The Story Behind My Chair

Those of you who have visited us at our home have probably wondered about "my chair". It doesn't match any of the other chairs at our dining room table and looks oddly out of place. There is even masking tape around one of the armrests and it looks worn out but comfortable. No one (except our cats) is allowed to sit on it.  In fact, one time, a solar voltaic salesman came in and without even asking, just sat on my chair.  Needless to say, I did not buy the pv system from him!

The chair belonged to my father and he sat on it at the original George's Meat Market in downtown Hilo. But the story is better told by our son, David. We printed the story on a poster and hung it above the chair that was located just inside of the entrance to the market. Many of our customers would stop and read the story and some even started to tear up as they either remembered my father or thought about their own family's simple legacies. Thanks to Judy's insistence, I brought the chair home. Here is David's story:

The Chair

My most vivid childhood memories revolve around the family business. My family moved to Hilo when I was four, because that is where our roots were. Hilo was home, and after years spent in the hustle and bustle of Honolulu, Mom and Dad wanted to move back to their hometown, where I could grow up close to my grandparents. Grandpa owned George’s Meat Market, which was then on Keawe Street, across from the old Woolworth’s building and the Palace Theater. This was where I spent many of my boyhood Saturdays, being generously overpaid for cleaning up and doing odd jobs so I could go off with the other kids and play pinball and Pac-Man at Woolworth’s. Downtown was different then, a thriving bayside business district alive with the smell of teriyaki and fishcake from the Okazuya’s, fresh cut flowers from Ebesu’s Florist, and the shampoo from Lorraine’s Hair Salon. Small businesses buzzed with walk-in traffic, selling everything from televisions, musical instruments and clothes to fishing supplies, pachinko machines and pets.

Our market had been a fixture in Downtown Hilo since 1949, when Grandpa and his business partner Douglas Uechi opened D & G Market on Keawe Street. When Mr. Uechi moved back to Okinawa with his wife, Grandpa continued the business and George’s Meat Market was born. The shop was a hole in the wall. Its marbled evergreen tile floors were darkened from many years of foot traffic, for this was a store that had known many faces and many stories because each one of Grandpa’s loyal customers was like a member of our extended family. Two showcases displayed fresh steaks, chops, and hamburger, and more exotic local items like pig’s head and the unforgettably aromatic leaf tripe, which Grandpa’s Filipino customers loved. Behind the counter, Grandpa George cut an imposing figure, standing with a broad ten inch butcher’s knife which he wielded with the precision of a surgeon’s scalpel. He was a hardworking, honest businessman who believed in making each customer feel like they were the only ones that mattered the moment they stepped into the shop. It was easy to look up to the man, because to me he represented everything that a man should be. It was there that I had spent my childhood summers sitting in a Miko meat box with a string “belt” tied around my waist emulating my grandfather’s apron string and befriending the locals who lived in the boarding rooms above the Market. It was there that I would learn the most valuable lessons of life …..work hard, treat people the way you would want to be treated, do things the right way and know the value of family.

The market is the embodiment of everything my grandfather stood for and it became for me, not just a family business, but a living, breathing part of the family. This is probably why it was so hard for my dad to let go when Grandpa finally retired and sold the business in 1982. In the months that followed, Dad would go down to the Market and help the new owner and was soon asked to become a partner. By the time I was in intermediate school, my parents had bought back the other shares of the Market and were the proud owners of my Grandfather’s legacy.

“When Only the Best is Good Enough.” Our business philosophy is predicated on providing the kind of service that simply isn’t available or possible in larger chain stores, and in offering our customers premium grade beef, pork and seafood. Grandpa never cheated anyone and never took any shortcuts. This simple philosophy is the cornerstone of our business. Over the years, we have had a variety of signature products, ranging from the smoked pipi kaula from the old days to the popular line of Heat and Serve items loved by college kids and seniors on the go, to the Oven Ready Prime Ribs that have graced local tables every holiday season. Whether grilling with friends, cooking for the family or preparing that “special” meal, the common denominator for the more than 70 items in our product line is the confidence our customers have in knowing they made a quality purchase. No shortcuts. No games. Just honest to goodness quality from a knowledgeable, service oriented staff, backed by a family with three generations of experience. For over 50 years, George’s Meat Market has had this commitment to the customer.

I was in college in 1990 when we closed the doors of the original downtown store and moved to our present location at 28 Hoku Street. As we cleaned out the downtown store and began moving the equipment out, I could not help but see the ghosts from an era long since passed. For a brief moment the excitement of moving was replaced with a strange longing…..it felt as if we were saying goodbye to something that could never be again. It was like saying goodbye to Grandpa. Staring into the empty room that had once been the main cutting area, the original store still retained its folksy charm for me. I remember wondering, would the new place be able to retain the essence of the original? Would it have the same character? As I watched my parents put the final touches on the new building, I knew they would succeed in their new endeavor, realizing that everything my grandfather had worked for would not be lost or forgotten….it was simply being transplanted. When Mom and Dad opened the doors of the new market, I could feel Grandpa with us, sitting in his chair that we brought with us to the new Market. Proud, happy and ever watchful over us.

PS: Chu Chu Lei worked again. I spent hours looking for this story, going through many backup CDs. Finally, as i was loading the last CD, I said the magic words. How you figgah?