When Nathan Bingham first launched Hawaiian Style Rentals & Sales in 2005 at age 19, he started off with just eight mopeds that he housed in the back of his truck and would deliver directly to clients.
“I didn’t have a location, so we would just park [the mopeds] on street corners with our phone number on it and people would call us,” Bingham recalled.
Since then, he has grown the business substantially. Hawaiian Style Rentals & Sales now also offers motorcycles, bicycles and scoot coupes, or three-wheeled scooters, in addition to mopeds, and has three locations in Waikiki — the most recent of which debuted in May.
Now, Bingham also has entered the electric two-wheel vehicle market, opening the first Hawaii location for global company Niu Technologies earlier this year. Located in in Kaimuki, Niu Honolulu carries electric mopeds, kick scooters, motor scooters and e-bikes.
Bingham now employs 25 across both companies.
While the pandemic has posed challenges, his approach to navigating this period has been similar to how he built his business over time: “You just go in every day, put your head down and try to do your best job and see what happens.”
What has been your strategy in expanding over the years?
I think honestly just trying to keep up with demand is what we were always trying to focus on — and listening to what customers want. If they wanted a moped that was bigger, we got a moped that was bigger, or if they were asking for motorcycles, then we would get motorcycles.
We expanded as the customers were demanding it.
How did you continue to grow Hawaiian Style during the pandemic?
We were expecting to scale up before all of this happened, it just got delayed a little bit. … I will tell you that 2020 was unimaginable. The whole month of April, we did 14 rentals. I had to let go of all of my staff.
Tourism was gone and there weren’t many rentals at all … but luckily, we also do sales. … The government funding helped a lot — the state programs, the [Paycheck Protection Program]. If we didn’t have that, I don’t know when I would have been confident to bring my staff back.
And when you have staff at the shop, you’ve got to figure out what to do with them. So, we pivoted and we focused on sales. We sold a lot of our inventory — a lot of our rental inventory and a lot of our new bikes, as well.
What made you want to open Niu?
We know this is where the market is going — everything is going electric. Every single year, I am constantly battling legislation trying to outlaw gas-powered mopeds. … And we’re seeing, more and more, electric bikes are really big in other parts of the world.
It’s really cool technology. It’s 47 cents per charge on a battery, you can run everything off your phone — you can run diagnostic checks, check your ride history.
And it’s getting more affordable, too, especially with the subsidies from the government. [Recently], the governor signed into law a 20% or $500 rebate for any electric bike or electric moped that is sold.
What is your strategy in attracting and retaining employees?
Right now, you hear that people don’t want to work, but I don’t think people don’t want to work, they just don’t want to work without purpose. I really do think that our job is a lot of fun — you truly connect with [the customers]. … And for us as a shop, we are pretty tight — it’s almost like a second family.
[As for retention] you have to listen to [employees]. I do [weekly] one-on-ones with staff to have concentrated, focused time with them. First, I give them time to talk about whatever is on their mind and then I let them know what I am working on.
That really helps, too, because there are a lot of our processes at the shop that have been developed from the staff’s feedback.
When you have [employees] make a decision, and it’s the right decision and it’s a decision you didn’t think of, it’s a pretty cool thing.
Nathan Bingham, owner of Hawaiian Style Rentals & Sales and Niu Honolulu
Hawaiian Style Rentals & Sales
2556 Lemon Rd (and two other locations)
Honolulu, HI 96815
808-946-6733
hawaiianstylerentals.com
Niu Honolulu
3512 Waialae Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96816
808-291-2197
niuhonolulu.com
