Sharing Aloha at the Commissaries

Posted on Oct 16, 2013 in News
ALA Conference

State Representative Clift Tsuji, House Chair of the Economic Development Committee, welcomes everyone.

As part of the “Buy Hawaii, Give Aloha” initiative, the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism (DBEDT) was pleased to partner with the American Logistics Association (ALA) Hawaii Chapter on the 2013 ALA Conference and Local Vendor Food Show held on October 16, 2013. Nearly 70 Hawaii businesses, manufacturers and distributors participated in this year’s event.

In 2012, over 200 new “local” items were added to the Hawaii stores and 12 new vendor contracts were established with the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA). The combined exchanges started doing business with over 10 new companies and over 60 new line items.

Selling Hawaii products through this distribution route provides a great opportunity for Hawaii manufacturers to increase sales locally with the possibility of growing their business beyond Hawaii. DeCA grosses over $6 billion dollars annually and Hawaii commissaries do over $280 million dollars annually.