Lucky You Live Hawaii: Our Buffer

By Blake Leong

In February 16th’s Pacific Business News, there is an article about how Hawaii was one of the few states in the nation that did not see a decline in its auto dealership count in 2008.

Nationwide?  The number fell 4.2%.  That’s 881 car dealerships that went out of business last year.

Take note.

We always complain about the things that we might miss out on living in Hawaii.  Remember when gas prices were through the roof?  Remember all the complaining that went on about the gas cap?  Ever heard anyone complain about how expensive it is to travel, or that a certain company doesn’t have any stores here?

We might not think about it very much, but living in such a beautiful place (where you never need a heavy jacket or snow tires) comes with a price.  Sometimes the price is lower wages, sometimes it’s missing out on cool mainland stores like Trader Joes or Chipotle, and sometimes it’s just the feeling like you need to get off the island.

But the wonderful thing about being so isolated is that we’ve got a great buffer.  The same isolation that drives up our gas prices up quickly, makes them fall slowly, and makes mainland companies not want to ship their orders to Hawaii (a personal pet peeve) also allows us to be shielded from the economic trouble of the mainland.

Just like the car dealerships, we have a little bit of a leg up on our mainland counterparts.  For example, though we are suffering a little in our job market, jobs are out there.  UH is putting on a job fair with over 70 employers hiring for all different types of positions.  Job Quest, the state’s largest job fair was held in January, and had 120 employers attend despite “these tough economic times”.

One of the good things about Hawaii is our local economy.  It’s true; we do import a lot of necessary things from out of state.  But there are tons of local businesses, and whenever we buy local, we really help keep our local economy, and our buffer, alive and well.

So the next time you’re at the market and you have a choice, buy local.  And if you’re in the market for a new job, check out some of the local companies who have a little more protection from poor economic situations.  A local business with local clientele may have a lot more protection from “these tough economic times” than a giant behemoth with mainland ties.