HALE'IWA — Starting in the days of horse-and-buggy delivery, four generations of the Sakai family have grown a small plantation grocery store into a popular supermarket on the North Shore that next month will celebrate its centennial.

Haleiwa Super Market is the legacy of a Japanese plantation contract worker who started out in the sugar-cane fields and stayed on to serve plantation communities from Waimea to Waialua.

While many Hawai'i companies have been in business for 100 years or more, any company that lasts that long deserves some recognition, said Jim Tollefson, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawai'i.

"It's challenging out there because of the cost of doing business or, more recently, finding workers," Tollefson said. "For a company to be around 100 years, going through many cycles, is a real testament of their fortitude."

Customers said they are happy the market is in their community and close to home. While they may go to Mililani to buy at a big-box store, they like the supermarket for its friendly employees, convenience and choice of food and household items. Juju Hirayama said the prices are good and the products are fresh, especially the fish.

"I like the feeling of family," said Hirayama, whose father shopped at the store when she was growing up. "They welcome everybody and you see all your friends when you come here."

It all began when Kasaku Sakai purchased a small store in Hale'iwa Town, said Myrtle Sakai, his daughter-in-law.

When Kasaku Sakai's contract was up, the decision to stay in Hawai'i was easy, said Myrtle Sakai, 93.

"There was no reason to go back there," she said. "There was nothing in Japan at that time."

Kasaku Sakai had toiled in the sugar plantation fields on Hawai'i, Maui and O'ahu for seven years before he was able to save and purchase his first store, calling it K. Sakai Shoten.

Catering to plantation workers who were paid only once a month, Kasaku Sakai would fill and deliver orders, then return to the store only to go out again, Myrtle Sakai said.

"In his time it was horse and buggy," she said. "Later on when my husband took over they had trucks, but my husband would still go to the camps to take the order and come back, make up the order and take it back again."

The hours were long and sometimes the customers couldn't pay, but the business thrived and soon it moved to a bigger location, she said.

In 1954 the business moved again and expanded from a grocery store to a supermarket, Myrtle Sakai said. By this time her husband, Charles, was running the operation, having taken over after his older brother died from an illness, leaving behind four children and a wife.

Charles Sakai continued to support his brother's family and today, two of those children — his nephews, Roy and Robert Sakai — operate the business.

When the supermarket opened, the family decided to go to a cash-and-carry system, causing some anxiety about whether customers would go elsewhere, she said.

Before World War II most of the business was by credit, said Roy Sakai, president of the company and store manager. People charged food and paid no interest on their outstanding balances, he said. Then fathers would die and families moved without paying.

"The accounts receivable became so great," said Roy Sakai, 82. "There was a lot, but we just wrote them off."

After 20 years at the new location the store moved in 1975 to its present site next to the courthouse, opening a larger 18,000 square-foot market. The store made history as the first supermarket in the Islands to adopt the electronic scanner, according to Myrtle Sakai.

The building is showing its age, but the shelves are neatly stocked with more than just the basic needs. The produce department carries a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables, and there's a good selection of fresh fish and wines. Both tourists and locals stroll the aisles. The store also has a line of Haleiwa Super Market logo items provided by an enterprising Japanese businessman who markets them in about 75 locations in Japan.

Everyone in the family contributed to the business, working from the time they were young, said Shinae Sakai, store office manager and Roy Sakai's wife.

"We all lived together in one big house," said Shinae Sakai, 80. "We all ate together and his mom was the cook. She prepared all the meals for everybody."

Both Roy and Robert Sakai, who is the meat department manager, could have started a life outside the business, but a sense of obligation and a request to help with the new super store tied their future to the market. Robert Sakai said when his uncle asked him to help plan an even bigger market that changed his mind about accepting an overseas offer to manage a store.

"Sometimes it was fun but not all the time," said Robert Sakai, 79. "We used to work long hours. We still work long hours."

For Roy, he always knew he would be in the business and he said he loves it and credits his employees for its success.

"It's an interesting business to try to be successful in," Roy Sakai said. "It's fortunate we have good employees."

The next generation of Sakais has not stepped forward to take over, and Roy and Shinae Sakai said they don't see another 100 years of family-operated business.

One of Robert Sakai's sons worked at the store for a while, but decided to open a mini mart. The family is looking at options but has made no decisions. Whatever the decision, Roy Sakai said whoever takes over must be committed.

"Unless you have a passion for this kind of business, I don't think you can last too long because it takes so much of your time," he said.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.