[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 133 (Tuesday, September 24, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11195-S11196]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE TERUYAS
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I wish to share with my colleagues
in the Senate, a very special story about an immigrant family. This
article was written by Mr. Don Chapman, and appeared in the Wednesday,
September 4, 1996, issue of the Midweek.
This story is of three young men, whose parents traveled 4,800 miles
to begin a new life in the Hawaiian Islands. The name of the sons were,
Albert, Herman and Wallace. The Teruya brothers were extraordinary
young men. Like most immigrants, they worked long hours with low wages,
but they had great faith in our country. With their meager earnings,
they first opened a small restaurant, Times Grill at 635 Kapiolani
Boulevard, offering 24-hour service. I have had the privilege of
knowing these brothers for over 50 years.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Herman and Wallace volunteered to
serve in the U.S. Army. They served with the most decorated infantry
regiment of World War II--the 442d Regimental Combat Team. Sgt. Herman
Teruya, while charging up an Italian hill occupied by crack German
soldiers made the supreme sacrifice. His valor is legendary in our
regiment. After the war, Wallace returned to Honolulu to resume his
activities that began before the war.
Together, the remaining brothers decided to take the big step and
established a supermarket; it was called Times Supermarket. Today, 47
years later, Times Supermarket is the largest supermarket chain in the
State of Hawaii. It is a household name.
We must keep in mind that we are all descendants of immigrants. This
is the success story of the Teruya family, where the values of hard
work and sacrifice have enabled them to live the American dream.
Mr. President, I ask that this special story of the Teruya brothers
be printed in the Record.
The article follows:
The Teruyas
(By Don Chapman)
This is why people have always come to America, and why a
teeming mass still strains to reach our shores. This is the
American Dream, equal parts sweat and sacrifice, and if
you're lucky a place in the sun and chickenskin on the Fourth
of July.
It's about immigrant kids starting out dirt-poor on a
plantation, taking a chance in the big city, working long and
hard, living frugally and saving, serving their country in
war even as their peers are rounded up into concentration
camps, losing a brother in that war and then making his
dream come alive.
It is timeless Americana. And it is the true story of the
Teruyas of Times Supermarkets, which today operates 13 stores
on Oahu and employs nearly 1,000 people.
[[Page S11196]]
``It's hard to imagine taking that risk, leaving your home
to go to a foreign country to look for opportunities,'' says
Wayne Teruya, who 2 years ago took over the company that his
father and uncle founded in 1949. ``But that's what my
grandparents did. They came from Okinawa to work on the
plantations.''
The Teruyas have been trying bold, new things ever since.
The first Times, for instance, was the first retail store in
Hawaii to offer air-conditioning (1949). The Liliha store was
the first to be integrated into a condominium complex (1975).
The Waialae store was the first to use a bar-code scanner at
the checkout counter (1979). Today, Times is the leader in
supermarket pharmacies.
The Times story really begins with Albert Teruya, Wayne's
uncle. Seeing no opportunity to improve his bleak life on the
Wailea plantation, he left Maui in 1929 at the age of 15 and
caught a steamer to Honolulu. Two years later, his brother
Wallace joined him.
``They started out working in restaurants,'' Wayne says.
The Great Depression was on, and one benefit of restaurant
work was that it provided room and board plus wages. The
brothers worked 14 hours a day, but the enthusiasm of youth
fueled by a dream of something better kept them going. In
1936, they pooled their savings and bought the lunch counter
at a downtown drug store for $600 and named it the T&W
Lunchroom.
Three years later, in partnership with their cousin, Kame
Uehara, with whom Albert had first lived in Honolulu, they
opened Times Grill at 635 Kapiolani Boulevard, offering 24-
hour service.
Albert says the name Times, which they took with them to
the grocery business, expresses the company's progressive
attitude: ``Keeping up with the times.''
Two other reasons they chose that name 57 years ago: Times
was easily pronounced by non-English speaking immigrants and
it fit easily on a small sign.
Two years later, Pearl Harbor was attacked. Wallace and
another brother, Herman, put their dreams on hold and
enlisted in the 442nd. In Italy, Sgt. Herman Teruya gave the
ultimate sacrifice. While charging an enemy position, the
young infantryman was killed.
Wallace returned from the war with Herman's dream still
alive.
``My uncle Herman had been interested in opening up a
grocery store,'' says Wayne Teruya, son of Wallace. ``My
father and uncle decided to pursue that route. They thought
there was more opportunity in the grocery business. The
restaurant business is long hours, even after-hours, and
there's bars and drinking involved. So they decided to try
the supermarket business. They got involved in different
aspects of the business, working for suppliers, working for
another supermarket, learning all the aspects of the grocery
business so when they opened their own business, they had a
broad perspective of all the different departments.''
Selling groceries is far different today than it was when
Albert and Wallace first opened the doors in 1949.
``In those days you didn't have too many choices, but in
today's marketplace you have too many choices,'' Teruya says
with a laugh, then turns serious. ``It's not only the other
supermarkets, but Longs, Walmart, K-Mart, as well as the
Costcos and convenience stores. We know you have your choice
of going anyplace. We know you don't have to come to Times
Supermarket to do your shopping. It's not just that you have
to eat so you come to our store. We have to deserve your
business.
``We're still struggling with the Costcos and Sam's Clubs.
The impact of them is that many of our customers go [to
discount markets] for their big bulk buys. If they're having
a big party, they may decide to go there. So our effort is
still to give good customer service and give them good
reasons to come into our store.''
One innovation that sets Times apart is its pharmacies.
``We have the opportunity in the supermarket industry in the
state of Hawaii to be the front-runners,'' Teruya says. ``All
but two of our 13 stores have pharmacies. Safeway only has
three. Star has two.
``Pharmacy is one of the departments that makes us
different among the supermarkets, and one where we're not
really challenged. Longs, a regular drug store, is our major
competition. With Payless out of the market now, as far as
chain pharmacies in Hawaii, it's Longs and Times
Supermarkets.''
Teruya adds that with the Baby Boomer generation turning
50--as he will next year--and becoming senior citizens, a
period in human lives that often requires more medical
attention and more medicines, Times' pharmacies are in a
position to both take advantage of that demographic situation
and to help customers: ``If they have diabetes, for example,
you can suggest to them food products that will help them in
their diet to control the diabetes. We're working on programs
where we can give advice on diet needs which crosses over to
our foods. Drug cost is a small component of a person's
overall health care cost, so if we can do a better job in the
pharmacy, the overall medical cost can come down.''
Teruya says Times is working on the other innovations in
the tradition of Albert and Wallace, but doesn't want to tip
his hand just yet.
As he looks forward, Teruya glances in the rearview mirror
of life. He considers the risks taken by his immigrant
grandparents and the hard work of his industrious father and
uncle: ``Yes, it does make you feel good to come from people
like that. And I feel a responsibility to continue it.''
Sometimes when you look in that rearview mirror, some
objects appear larger than life. It must be that way for the
Teruyas.
In 1947, Wallace, Albert and Kame sold Times Grill--to a
former employer at the Kewalo Inn who had just returned from
a California internment camp--and began methodically learning
the grocery business. Wallace worked in Amfac's grocery
warehouse and at Tom, Dick and Harry's market on Kapahulu.
Albert worked at Sears, where he learned how a big company
operates and about customer service.
On April 29, 1949, with the help of friends and family who
helped stock shelves, they opened the first Times
Supermarket, the McCully store at 1772 South King Street.
That first store was small by today's standards, but it was
modern, well-stocked and air-conditioned. And, says Teruya,
it featured Albert and Wallace's basic philosophies that
continue to guide the company: ``High-quality merchandise,
competitive prices, excellent service. And the customer is
always right.''
``My father was more customer relations, my uncle was more
administration, looking at the overall operation,'' says
Wayne Teruya. ``They were a good balance.''
They still are, even in their 80's.
``They've never really retired,'' Teruya says. They still
come into the office every day, still visit the stores.
You'll never get the business out of their blood.''
Their tradition of innovation remains a part of the
company.
``We always try to do that, we're always looking for new
ways of doing things,'' says Teruya. ``But we're not afraid
to copy a good idea, either. If we see something that our
competitors are doing and it's working, then yeah, we'll
follow.''
He recalls that when his father took his wife, Ethel, and
their four children on vacation to the Mainland, part of the
itinerary was always checking out supermarkets.
``My father would drive and no matter where we were going,
if we passed a market, he'd pull into the parking lot.
Sometimes we all went in, sometimes we stayed in the car, and
he'd go in to see if he could get any new ideas. He's still
curious to see what things are working.''
Wayne, 49, was 2 when the first Times opened. He has no
recollection of that big day in family history, but has
plenty of other memories of growing up around groceries:
``I remember running around in our McCully store as a
little kid, going upstairs, visiting the offices. The store
was closed on Sundays, but a lot of times my father would go
to the store on Sunday and take us along and we'd work,
either stocking shelves or pulling out merchandise.''
He is the second of four children--older brother Raymond is
chairman of the Times board. Wayne's first real job was a bag
boy at Times:
``I must have been 14-15. I had fun bagging groceries. Then
after a few summers, I trained to be a cashier, which I
really enjoyed--that's where you get the direct contact with
the customers. We always tried to see who could pull in the
biggest loads (ring up the most sales). And those were not
the automatic scanning days like now. We punched those big
NCR (National Cash Register) machines with rows and rows of
keys.''
Was it tougher being the son and nephew of the bosses?
``I don't think so,'' Teruya says. ``The problem is I was
never sure of how good of a job I was doing because maybe
people didn't want to tell me I was doing something wrong
because of who I was. But hopefully I never did anything
wrong.''
He graduated from Mid-Pacific Institute and the University
of Hawaii, where he majored in accounting.
``I worked for a CPA firm just for a little while at the
end of my college years and right after I graduated,'' he
says. ``But then I had the opportunity to get into the Times
accounting department.''
He rose to vice president of sales and executive vice
president before being named president and CEO two years ago.
It was during his UH years that he met his wife, Sharon.
They are the parents of three sons: Weston, 19, a sophomore
at Pomona University in California; Wade, a high school
senior and Wyatt, a high school sophomore.
So far, Wade is the only third-generation son who has
expressed any interest in the grocery biz.
``If they ever get interested, fine,'' Teruya says. ``I
don't want to push them into the business. My father didn't
push us into the business. I worked part-time and after a
while I decided it was fun.''
He met Sharon, he says, ``at a beach party at Ala Moana.
Nowadays, it's kind of spooky down there at night; I'd never
want my kids doing that. But it was love at first sight--for
me, not for her. I had to chase her for a while. But we just
had our 25th anniversary.''
His advice for staying together long enough to celebrate a
silver anniversary: ``Don't get upset when you have fights.
You have to expect to have disagreements. And you have to
discuss each other's point of views, so you understand where
you're both coming from. And just stick in there because
you'll have your ups and downs.''
That sounds a lot like his business philosophy,
too.
____________________