Comments on: Costco is Ugly http://great-hikes.com/blog/costco-is-ugly/ Living and hiking on the island of Kauai Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:47:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: honoluluboy http://great-hikes.com/blog/costco-is-ugly/#comment-30539 honoluluboy Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:59:06 +0000 http://great-hikes.com/blog/?p=149#comment-30539 For those of you complaining about growth on Kauai, Nuff said , you don't like it ?? then you people ( WESTURNERS ) SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE HAWAIIANS ALONE!!!! As for us hawaiians who already adjusted to it , so can you. complainers!!!!!!!!!!! For those of you complaining about growth on Kauai, Nuff said , you don’t like it ?? then you people ( WESTURNERS ) SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE HAWAIIANS ALONE!!!!
As for us hawaiians who already adjusted to it , so can you. complainers!!!!!!!!!!!

]]> By: Andy http://great-hikes.com/blog/costco-is-ugly/#comment-238 Andy Mon, 23 Oct 2006 21:12:44 +0000 http://great-hikes.com/blog/?p=149#comment-238 Murals are nice, but in a way they're just cosmetic, and they look dated after a while. Kauai is all about seeing the island's beauty and feeling close to nature. The solution is to plan the development and design the buildings appropriately. To me it looks like the Costco box is much higher than it needs to be, and I can't fathom why anyone one finds that appealing. The problem is that Costco is a mainland corporation with a cookie-cutter business model, including building design, that it applies everywhere to increase profits. Mainland retail outlets sap the resources of their community through low wages, low health care and high infrastructure costs. This is the true cost of inexpensive shopping opportunities, and it will eventually displace and destroy the culture and beauty of an island like Kauai. I'm happy to hear the pavillion was saved, or rather pieces such as the roof because it had masonry walls that probably couldn't be moved. I've noticed that every company that has a negative image because it takes from the island tries to buy community acceptance through donations. Sometimes they do it blatantly and I wonder who they think they can fool. In the case of Grove Farm, they have owned significant land and run a business on the island for more than a century, so I do believe they are sincere in their desire to give back to the community. However, such generosity does not absolve them of their responsibility to make business decisions that preserve the island for the entire community. Murals are nice, but in a way they’re just cosmetic, and they look dated after a while. Kauai is all about seeing the island’s beauty and feeling close to nature. The solution is to plan the development and design the buildings appropriately. To me it looks like the Costco box is much higher than it needs to be, and I can’t fathom why anyone one finds that appealing.

The problem is that Costco is a mainland corporation with a cookie-cutter business model, including building design, that it applies everywhere to increase profits. Mainland retail outlets sap the resources of their community through low wages, low health care and high infrastructure costs. This is the true cost of inexpensive shopping opportunities, and it will eventually displace and destroy the culture and beauty of an island like Kauai.

I’m happy to hear the pavillion was saved, or rather pieces such as the roof because it had masonry walls that probably couldn’t be moved. I’ve noticed that every company that has a negative image because it takes from the island tries to buy community acceptance through donations. Sometimes they do it blatantly and I wonder who they think they can fool.

In the case of Grove Farm, they have owned significant land and run a business on the island for more than a century, so I do believe they are sincere in their desire to give back to the community. However, such generosity does not absolve them of their responsibility to make business decisions that preserve the island for the entire community.

]]> By: Peggy http://great-hikes.com/blog/costco-is-ugly/#comment-233 Peggy Sun, 22 Oct 2006 07:33:27 +0000 http://great-hikes.com/blog/?p=149#comment-233 Andy, I so agree. Costco is ugly and both Matt and I miss the mountain views. We were talking about it just yesterday - how cool it would be if Costco would paint a mural of the mountains on that wall, one that would blend in with the mountains themselves. Of course they won't, though. I believe that pavilion at the bottom of this post has been donated to Island School for use as a teaching space. Grove Farm donated the land Island School sits on, and has been generous with donations of other buildings and money, too. Andy, I so agree. Costco is ugly and both Matt and I miss the mountain views. We were talking about it just yesterday – how cool it would be if Costco would paint a mural of the mountains on that wall, one that would blend in with the mountains themselves. Of course they won’t, though. I believe that pavilion at the bottom of this post has been donated to Island School for use as a teaching space. Grove Farm donated the land Island School sits on, and has been generous with donations of other buildings and money, too.

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