Support the Big Box Ban!
Existing Big Box Stores are grandfathered in, but no new Big Box Stores allowed
Sign the Petition
We need you to fight to keep Superstores out of Maui. This ordinance will not affect any big box store that is already doing business in Maui.
We have been actively engaged in the effort to get a county-wide ordinance passed that would prohibit new large big-box stores from opening here, and prevent the expansion of those already here.
The rise of these powerful retailers over the past 20 years has decimated two long-standing pillars of the American middle class.
One consists of small business owners, tens of thousands of whom, along with their employees, have lost their livelihoods as the big boxes have taken over.
Manufacturing workers are the other. Since 1990, the United States has lost some 3 million manufacturing jobs. Many of these losses can be traced to big-box retailers and the relentless pressure they have placed on companies to cut costs by moving to countries with low wages and lax labor laws.
These stores have proven to be very destructive and are not sustainable environmentally, culturally, and most importantly economically. They have already driven many of our local businesses into closing and will cause many essential local and family-run businesses to go under. They discourage new small business from opening in the face of this new competition, and drag down the economy further as those unemployed from better paying jobs will be force to take part-time jobs, without benefits, at minimum wage at these big-box stores.
Superstores on Maui also don’t make sense in light of current economic situation. What happens when these stores start failing on the mainland, and start closing here on Maui? Where do the jobs go then? And where are you going to find all the things these stores used to sell, now that they were all forced out of business?
These types of stores are also very bad for the environment and our health--adding acres and acres of new impermeable concrete; using huge quantities of water; importing unsafe goods from China, and ignoring local producers in favor of cheaper foreign manufacturers.
This bill is a protective measure to save our local businesses, and preserve our sense of community. We don’t want Maui to look like Anywhere Mainland, USA.
BUT YOU CAN HELP!!!!
Please take a minute to sign (please mention in the comments section if you are a business owner), our online petition
www.thepetitionsite.com/1/protect-maui-now
Then copy the link and send it to your friends, ohana, and neighbors. We are aiming for 1000 signatures from residents and the business community.
Thanks for your help on this very important issue.