Kauai convenience store known for manju snacks to close

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LIHUE — Kauai will soon lose a popular convenience store and purveyor of homemade snacks like “Lawai Manju,” Spam musubi and chi chi dango.

LIHUE — Kauai will soon lose a popular convenience store and purveyor of homemade snacks like “Lawai Manju,” Spam musubi and chi chi dango.

The Garden Island newspaper reports the doors to the Lawai Menehune Food Mart will close for good on May 13.

Menehune Food Mart President Charles Kawakami announced the closure on Friday. He didn’t say why, just that a decision was made not to renew the store’s lease.

The Lawai Menehune Food Mart was started by Sakae and Ruth Matsuura during the heydays of the area’s pineapple cannery.

Kawakami hopes employees will work other Menehune Food Mart locations.

Chiera Sherman says the custard pie was her favorite. She says you can’t find pies like that anywhere.