Sometimes it’s the smallest issues that bring out the biggest emotions, and so it was with my column in the Star-Advertiser last week about the fuss over Target’s plans to open in the Don Quijote spot in downtown Kailua.
I just couldn’t see the big deal about one out-of-state company taking over the same space from another out-of-state company for the same purpose.
Target doesn’t have the bad reputation as some other mainland big-box retailers. It’s a good company and a good store; other local communities were almost as excited to get a Target as UH fans were excited about getting invited to the Mountain West Conference.
But opponents of the new store remain certain it’ll ruin Kailua’s character and took my head off for suggesting otherwise. Others wrote to thank me for saying it so they didn’t have to and have their own heads taken off.
One anonymous reader put the issue in the best perspective for me by recounting a conversation with a Target protester that went something like this:
“Well, how about if Don Quijote fixed up its rundown store, paved the potholed parking lot and radically improved the quality of its merchandise?”
“That would be good.”
“Duh, that’s a Target!”
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If you’re looking for something different in greeting cards to express your best holiday wishes, I recommend a couple of lines with musical themes created by out-of-work Honolulu Symphony musicians.
Check out Grin-n-Barrett Cards by Paul Barrett, the orchestra’s principal bassoonist, and Normzart Greeting Cards by clarinetist Norman F. Foster.
Volcanic Ash 
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