Ron Brown (left) and Marc Kobayashi pose last week in the doorway of their Wailuku store. Owners Brown and Kobayashi had announced last year that they would be selling inventory ahead of the store’s closure, a decision that was solidified by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
After nearly 26 years on Market Street, Ron Brown returned the keys to the Brown-Kobayashi building on Wednesday morning and closed up shop.
The Wailuku store, which was once filled with a mix of Japanese, Chinese, Hawaiian, and European antiques, including furniture, gifts and antique garden items, had its final run this week.
Owners Brown and Marc Kobayashi had announced last year that they would be selling inventory ahead of the store’s closure, a decision that was solidified by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are more than happy and rejoiced to have had the honor to be able to survive in Wailuku for 25 years and 11 months,” Brown said on Thursday morning.
While a few personal mementos were taken home, Brown said that the remaining small stock of items left over at the store were donated to St. Theresa’s Church in Kihei to help feed the homeless.
Kula customer Donna Ting holds a framed photograph of King David Kalakaua at Brown-Kobayashi. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
Over the years Brown-Kobayashi merchandise has also been donated to American Red Cross, Women Helping Women, the Bailey House Museum, and other organizations.
“It’s a big privilege for us and a responsibility to donate to schools, churches,” he said. “It’s part of people’s responsibility if they have a business to support the community because the community supports us, so it’s our honor.”
For decades, Brown and Kobayashi took international trips to hunt for authentic and historical pieces to bring them back home and “share it with the rest of the world.”
Along the way, the pair made partnerships with reliable dealers in Japan, China, and North America, and gained long-term clients from Hawaii and worldwide that they still communicate with.
Brown said that his favorite part about operating an antique shop in Wailuku town, which was once buzzing with family-run businesses and shoppers, was “having beautiful merchandise to be able to display properly in our shop, and to be honest with you, the pieces were so great, they would sell themselves.”
Donna Ting inspects a statue of a kitchen god at Brown-Kobayashi. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
Running a business has the usual “ups and downs” and obstacles to overcome, but overall, “it was just a very good 26 years,” he said.
Maui real estate agent Donna Ting, a frequent shopper and friend of the owners, said on Wednesday that she’s “going to miss them” and their wide range of items.
“These guys really had a good eye, and their things were beautiful and they made our homes more beautiful,” Ting said.
With a background in art history and love for cultural pieces, Ting has been browsing Brown-Kobayashi since the mid-’90s, when it first opened in historic Wailuku town among all the other “mom and pop” stores.
“Whenever it was a bad day, we’d go over there,” Ting said with a laugh. “There really isn’t another store like that on Maui.”
Ting went by Brown-Kobayashi for the final time on Wednesday morning to help with the key drop-off, but also to pick up an antique shelf.
“You have to have the beauty and culture, and that’s what Brown-Kobayashi did, they gave that to the community,” she said.
Brown on Thursday morning said “a hui hou” to the longstanding Brown-Kobayashi venture and looks onward to the next adventure.
* Dakota Grossman can be reached at dgrossman@mauinews.com.m
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