The Kaimuki neighborhood is home to dozens of businesses including restaurants, boutiques and coffee shops, and now there’s a new digital platform to make finding them all easier.
Keep it Kaimuki, a grassroots movement to support and promote the area’s businesses, has launched a new digital interactive map. Featured on the Keep it Kaimuki website, the map allows users to search businesses by category, location, or company name. In addition to showing where the businesses are located, the listings also link to the companies’ websites and social media accounts, and include photos, contact information and hours.
Jordan Lee, the founder of Keep it Kaimuki, told Pacific Business News that he created the map to “add another layer” to the initiative.
“This map can really help us to pinpoint and highlight where businesses are and what they're about. Our team also wanted to have it feature more about the small biz as well, like a promo code or current deals,” Lee said. “It's also wonderful to help our community realize just how many businesses actually exist in our neighborhood.”
There are currently about 40 businesses featured on the map. Lee said that “every brick-and- mortar location in the immediate Kaimuki business district” has the chance to be included on the map. In addition to retailers and restaurants, the map also has personal care services, non-profit offices, area landmarks and public parking locations.
The digital map was made in partnership with 3650 Waialae, which sponsored its creation, and developed by Design Asylum.
Lee did not disclose the project cost, but he noted that 3650 Waialae “has been really supportive in helping us find new and creative ways to raise awareness for and lift up the Kaimuki business community.”
Lee is a Kaimuki business owner himself — he opened Waialae Avenue pet supply store The Public Pet in 2017. He came up with Keep it Kaimuki as a way to bring in customers for his own business as well as the neighborhood as a whole.
As he previously told PBN in a story published last fall, "I was trying to think of other ways to draw people to my business and then I thought about it, it’s not just about The Public Pet."
"Kaimuki in general was a huge draw for me to open a business along Waialae Avenue. It was about what Kaimuki as a community and a neighborhood offers. So really the idea for KIK came from wanting more people to know more about the many cool restaurants and businesses that we have here," he said at the time.
Keep it Kaimuki hosts an annual Keep It Kaimuki Saturday event on the Saturday after Thanksgiving that features exclusive discounts and promotions for area businesses. The group also supports businesses throughout the year via social media and with merchandise sales.
The map, Lee hopes, will be one more way to boost business for Kaimuki.
“We are so excited for this to be launched to the public and see how they can use it to navigate through the streets of Kaimuki,” Lee said. “We are excited to offer more community events throughout the year and to better partner with local businesses.”
