The Evolving Game
Likening himself to the statue of King Kamehameha, Keith Tanaka of downtown’s Roots and Relics stands outside his shop greeting people, six days a week. However, he is a far shot from being as serious and unchanging as his bronze counterpart fronting the old Judiciary building. With a good-natured laugh and lots of smiles, Tanaka has become a friendly icon of the local golfer’s community, and his shop has offered new and used clubs to eager golfers for years.
This local boy from the Makiki- Manoa area had his away-from-home experiences first in Ohio, then San Diego, Washington, and then London for law school. He returned to Honolulu to work in the attorney general’s office, but after 18 years of local law he made the change. “I’ve never been the adversarial type of guy,” smiles Tanaka.
Roots and Relics started as a way to sell unwanted items lying around the house and first opened in 1989. With no more than 300 sq. ft. to occupy, Tanaka’s original second-floor Queen’s Plaza location was small and often, empty. Tanaka remembers the days of sitting and reading books, waiting long hours for customers to appear. “I’d have days when no one would walk in and I’d ask myself a lot of questions like, ‘What are you gonna do?!’ He used to hang a “Will Return At” clock on his door, but found no one waiting after his lengthy breaks. These days, the man who got into golf so he could play more golf, craves free time. Laughing, he continues, “There’s no way I could take a lunch break now.”
In the beginning, he was a frustrated novice golfer looking for equipment to improve his game. “I discovered there were a lot of people like me!” He started concentrating on old clubs in people’s garages. He found an especially good market with Japanese visitors who wanted American clubs from the 1950s and 1960s like the ones used by golf tour generators such as Jack Nicklaus. Before long, local tour guides were bringing their Japanese tours to check out his store.
Inevitably, the golf game continued to evolve and so did Tanaka’s business. “At that time, nothing changed in golf,” Tanaka recalls. “Maybe the coloration (of the clubs) but there was hardly any technical advancement. All of a sudden, the technology changed from wood to metals.” As golf gear grew more and more specialized, new equipment sales became essential.
While change can serve as a challenging obstacle for many, Tanaka embraced it. “The key to business,” he says, “is having the flexibility to keep up with the times.” Even big- name companies could have used his advice. “Popular manufacturers from the ’40s through the ’70s fell by the wayside because their products were only for the ‘serious’ golfer and they wouldn’t change. But, most of the golfers out there are just hackers. They’re not out there trying to get on a tour.”
Recognizing the golfer’s need to constantly search for the next best thing, Tanaka enjoys helping pros and hackers alike find their “holy grail,” either with a new purchase or a trade-in upgrade. Without hesitance, the Roots and Relics owner deems meeting customers as his favorite thing about doing business, “from the guys who spend three-to-four hours inside, touching every club and talking about the old days, to the kids who have never golfed before and it’s like they’re walking into a museum.”
His advice to novice golfers out there? “Have fun and don’t get so upset and serious about it. It’s supposed to be a recreation!”
And where would he be, of course, if not in front of his shop on the corner of Merchant Street? “Playing on the PGA tour — I could be last on the PGA tour, I don’t care!”
Leave a Reply
Sign Up For Events and Promotion Updates
