tioli/biz

Inspiration results in business

Tioli Creative Center offers items for the hobbyist

BY BOBBY COMMAND

WEST HAWAII TODAY

bcommand@westhawaiitoday.com

Take it or leave it. That’s just what Sarah Charles and David Staley did.

Burned out by a decade and a half in Hawaii’s public schools system, the couple took a chance and left the Department of Education to start an arts and crafts store, Tioli Creative Center in the Kaloko Business Park.

“We decided we needed to do something more life affirming,” said Charles, 42, who left her position as technology coordinator at Kealakehe Intermediate School to open Tioli in June. Staley, 46, her husband and partner, had served as vice principal at Kealakehe Intermediate and Konawaena Middle Schools.

“This is something that comes from our hearts,” she said. “We chose this vein because we love the stuff of art, and we believe in lifelong learning, and that play is the most important part of learning.”

Charles describes Tioli Creative Center as a “place of inspiration.” But people who enter will notice it is mostly an arts supply store with the essentials such as paints, canvasses, clays, papers and drafting furniture. “This is also the season for watercolors,” she said.

The store also takes art work on consignment from local artists. “So we carry original art for reasonable prices.”

There are supplies for the latest fad, scrapbooking. Also available are beads and mosaic tiles, and a whole yarn shop for knitting and crochet.

However, there is a hobby section with a large focus on radio-controlled airplanes, helicopters and ships. Planes come in ready to fly, almost ready to fly models and kits with both gasoline and electric engines.

“Not to use a pun, but the helicopters have been flying out of the store,” Charles said. “It’s not such a huge learning curve with them any more, so they’re accessible to everyone.”

Also available at the hobby section are kites and wooden ship models.

The name Tioli may sound like a fancy Italian word, but it’s actually an acronym for, “To Inspire Others, Live Inspired.” Charles said they saw a restaurant with a similar name in San Diego. “But theirs was, ‘Take It Or Leave It,'” she said. “The two are actually close in meaning — if you’re going to live that way, others will have to take it or leave it.”

Charles, who paints with oils, and Staley, who is a musician, have also been able to fulfill their desires to instruct while working at the store, which offers classes. “This type of teaching is also much more refreshing,” she said. “The students who are here want to be here.”

Business, according to Charles, has been steady. “People in the village seem to be welcoming us,” she said. “A lot of them come in and have the reaction that they are seeing old friends, or they say, ‘we haven’t seen a store like this in years.’ People also continually thank us.”

The industrial park location has not hurt their business, according to Charles. “People are finding us,” she said. And there are a few surprises. “We planned on mostly local, but I would say at least 20 percent of our customers are tourists.”

Tioli is located at 73-4800 Kanalani St. Call 326-2820, e-mail sales@tioli.biz or visit its Web site at www.tioli.biz.