New Island Naturals project ‘moving slowly’
A new flagship location for Island Naturals in Hilo is still a ways off.
Grocery chain owner and former state Sen. Russell Ruderman announced plans in 2021 to build a new retail center at the intersection of Kekuanaoa and Mililani streets in Hilo that would house the franchise’s new flagship location.
Ruderman told the Tribune-Herald in early 2023 that groundbreaking on the project was still probably a year away. Now, at the end of 2024, that still seems to be the case.
“We’re probably still a year away from starting construction,” Ruderman said, before adding, “I think I probably said that last time we talked.”
Ruderman said the project has been going slowly in part because of the rising cost of construction in recent years, saying that 2024 “wasn’t the right year to start the project.”
Despite this, Ruderman said design work and plans for the project are largely complete and ready to be submitted to the county Planning Department. But he reiterated the project is just “moving slowly for now.”
If and when the project is completed, it will comprise two buildings, one of which would be roughly 40,000 square feet and would house the new Island Naturals location, while the other would house about 10,000-12,000 square feet of retail space for other businesses.
The location also would include some green space and a site for a drive-thru business.
Once the new location is completed, the Island Naturals store at the Hilo Shopping Center will close. The new flagship would have about 1.5 times the current location’s retail space, and a commercial kitchen about three times larger than the store’s current kitchen.
Even though construction of the flagship store has yet to begin, the chain in 2022 opened a new 14,000-square-foot location across the island at the Kona Commons Shopping Center in Kailua-Kona.
