The store, an affiliate of the H-Mart conglomerate that has at least 50 supermarkets all over the U.S. and Canada, said its sales plummeted to record low after the collapse of the Saipan garment industry which used to employ more than 17,000 foreign workers, mostly Chinese.
In recent years, the store said it also had to pay higher wages and power rates.
This month alone, H-Mart was billed $19,189 for its power consumption. It said it is barely making enough to pay for its estimated 30 employees and other operational costs.
“We are very sorry to inform you that H-Mart retail business will be closing by Feb. 28, 2011. H-Mart is thanking everyone for their continued patronage and loyalty for the past 12 years and for doing business with our company. The downturn situation of the economy [prompted us] to make this difficult decision,” the management stated in a notice handed to customers yesterday.
Kim Sang Hoon, sales and purchasing manager of H-Mart, said it’s sad to see the store go but management has already made up its mind given the dire economic situation of the CNMI.
“It’s sad but the economy is really bad,” said Kim who is originally from Busan, South Korea.
Elizabeth Sion, who is with the store’s purchasing department, said she has been with H-Mart since 2005.
But she and her husband have been with the parent company of the store since the late 1990s.
She said through her job at the store, they have managed to send their children to school.
It’s disheartening to see the store close, she added.
“I am deeply sad about this,” she said.
Other employees expressed the same sentiment.
H-Mart already cut the working hours of the store from 80 every two weeks to 64, but the declining number of customers made it difficult for the store to survive.
“Our sales are really down. There’s just not enough customers,” one of the employees said.
Government workers who are now working just 64 hours per payroll are no longer buying merchandise as much as before.
The remaining guest workers on the islands have become more thrifty and restaurants and other stores no longer buy in big volumes because there are not that many tourists visiting the CNMI.
H-Mart employees believe that unless the tourism industry, the backbone of the local economy, improves, the future remains bleak for the CNMI.
The management announced it no longer issues H-mart points starting Feb.7 but customers will be given until Feb. 28 to redeem prizes for their points.
H-Mart intends to be in wholesale business in the meantime.
