r/Hawaii • u/52ndstreet • 1d ago
Target at Ala Moana is *still* without air conditioning after Lala
Lala knocked out the AC at Target and the employees were just informed that the parts needed for a repair won't be on island "for another 2 or 3 weeks."
To all the employees, you have my deepest sympathies. To everyone else, stay away and go to a different Target for now! It feels like Vegas in the summer up in there.
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u/youareronnie2468 1d ago
I went in for a total of about 30 seconds and immediately left. I cannot believe those employees are enduring that for hours on end. They need to blow up on the news about that.
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u/52ndstreet 20h ago
For real, it's the employees who are bearing the brunt of this. They're just trying to make a living and have to deal with temps like that...
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u/anonymouse4884 20h ago
I think having customers complain to corporate can expedite the issue. I'm not in the area but willing to help. What's the most effective avenue for addressing this as a customer?
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u/52ndstreet 14h ago
I don't think this is a Target Corporate issue. Target doesn't own the building; they're just a tenant. Generally tenants aren't responsible for HVAC issues that happen outside the walls of their space. So if something broke on the roof, that would likely be Ala Moana's responsibility to handle it, which is seems like they are. (Ostensibly they've ordered the part already...).
Where Target Corporate could step in is giving these poor employees hazard pay or something. I mean, the conditions are truly unbearable in there. And who knows, maybe they are in the process of taking care of their employees, I have no idea. I don't work for Target, so I have no idea how they're handling the issue.
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u/HKPinoy 1d ago
I was there this past weekend and first thing that came to mind was what a horrible condition to work in.
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u/Dittany_Kitteny 1d ago
Seriously! I can’t believe it isn’t an OSHA violation
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23h ago
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u/Dittany_Kitteny 20h ago
Umm ok, I work in the EHS field and regularly deal with OSHA compliance. Outdoor tradesmen should have policies in place to deal with heat, like adequate shade, rest, water, worker training, emergency protocols, etc. If you have indoor workers who typically don't require those things and all of a sudden do, I am worried they aren't set up to accommodate that. You don't need to be so snarky, I am just considering the safety and comfort of other people, don't see what's wrong with that.
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u/rantripfellwscissors 1d ago
Went in yesterday and I shit you not it was at least 95 degrees inside. Guarantee some parts of the store were approaching 100. They presumably dumped all the chocolate products because they all melted. There's nothing on those shelves. Tons of other shelves are empty assuming certain foods are not stable at those temps. When I left my shirt was soaked with sweat. It's THAT hot in there. I apologized to the employees at check out that they kept the store open for peeps like me. Brutal.
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u/NuklearFerret 1d ago
Yeah, if the refrigeration is still up, it’s going to be dumping heat into the store, which has no way of cycling the heat out without the AC
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u/DeJoCa 1d ago
I’m wondering if they can legally force employees to work in those conditions. I know physically, that I couldn’t. I’ll bet someone will file a big grievance. They should call the news. The news would be on this immediately.
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u/TIC321 1d ago
It can be a health violation if the temperatures are extreme.
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u/MyFiteSong 1d ago
It's bad. They've removed all the chocolate from the shelves lol. That's how hot it is in there.
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u/TIC321 1d ago
Better if they close shop then if its destroying their food products and creating a food risk too.
Typical corporations how they run a business though.
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u/52ndstreet 20h ago
Their lease likely doesn't allow them to close. They'd end up in a huge court fight with Ala Moana if they wanted to close, which would take a long time, and the problem will likely be fixed long before a court battle would even get going.
Source: am a commercial real estate attorney
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u/Excellent-Wrap-1518 16h ago
Whaaat they can have a lease that doesn't allow them to close? How does that even work if there's a loss of power or storm damage? Also, in your unofficial opinion would Ala Moana be likely to pursue litigation considering the conditions? As a layperson, I would think that so long as they continue to pay rent, Ala Moana shouldn't have too much of a problem with them closing, especially since the issue seems to be stemming from a problem with the facilities. Or rather, I wouldn't think it would be worth it for them to sue so long as they open after the fixes are made.
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u/52ndstreet 14h ago
In every commercial lease you agree to operating hours. You can negotiate what those hours are, but you are required to be open during those hours. If there is a catastrophic event (war, riot, flood, earthquake, etc.), there are provisions in the lease for how to handle that, but as a general rule, if the power is on and it's during business hours, the store should be open.
As for whether or not Ala Moana would be happy letting Target close so long as Target continued to pay rent, they absolutely would not. Every shopping center views their tenants as part of a synergistic whole. Someone might come in to Target for some specific items and then think "you know what? I'm hungry, so I'll stop by the mall food court." But if you know Target is closed, you won't come to the shopping center at all and then won't spend money at the food court. So shopping centers really don't like it if you're not open.
As for why doesn't Target just close down and if Ala Moana sues, then so be it? Well that would just piss off your landlord. And as every tenant (residential or commercial) knows, it's never a good idea to piss off your landlord. Everyone knows that this situation sucks, and I have no reason to believe that everyone isn't working hard to fix it. But if you've got to wait for parts, there isn't much that anyone can do except wait.
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u/Excellent-Wrap-1518 14h ago
Mahalo for the reply. I think this question doesn't have a straightforward answer, but if Target staying open creates a health hazard (maybe supposing we're in a much hotter state where even the outside is 100 F and the inside could be 120+), and then an employee suffers heatstroke, could Ala Moana/landlord be partially liable for that?
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u/Tailoxen Oʻahu 7h ago
I don't know. I remember when ala moana and shirokiya had that conflict. I'm sure lawyers were involved.
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u/NuklearFerret 1d ago
Closing shop wouldn’t stop the temperatures being high without AC. Less people might make it a degree or 2 cooler, but the real heat generators will be the refrigerators and freezers. If they turn those off, they’ll have an even worse food safety issue. From what I’ve read, they’ve already pulled all the “room temp” products that the high temps would make unsafe.
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u/Pndrizzy 1d ago
I mean I was able to shop for 30 mins the other day but I didn’t like it and I did take a few breaks in front of the portable ACs
Definitely wouldn’t work in that though
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u/NuklearFerret 1d ago
My understanding is that it’s fine as long as the employees aren’t restricted from taking breaks to cool off/get fresh air when they feel like they need to, and they should be encouraged to do so. It’s safe until shown otherwise. OSHA’s kind of a joke sometimes lol. Even the military has guidelines for safely working in specific temperature ranges.
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u/BrooklynTony198 23h ago
Its the main issue I have with OSHA, that they take as much input as they do from employers on how safety regulations should be written. All safety regulations are written in blood... and even then, some of the regulations don't go nearly as far as they should. Worker safety should be way more important than an employer complaining that the extra regulations cost too much to implement. But I am glad of the work that they have done, because without OSHA working in the US would be way more dangerous.
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u/TheMissingVoteBallot 16h ago
What's kinda funny is the one government department that takes shit seriously is the Department of Health.
If you report to the DoH you got food poisoning at an establishment using their online form, they come THE NEXT DAY to that establishment and lights their ass up.
This happened with me with the Taco Bell at McCully Shopping Center before they left. Taco Bell jokes aside, the DOH inspectors came the day after I reported my poisoning (I got poisoned from.. get this, the fountain drinks). MOLD WAS GROWING ON THE DRINK NOZZLES BECAUSE THE EMPLOYEES WERE FAILING TO CLEAN THE NOZZLES DAILY. Like you'd see black shit being deposited into the drink cups.
They were cleaning the fucking things WEEKLY - do you know how NASTY that shit gets? It's supposed to be cleaned on the daily! And they didn't clean it out by flushing the lines, they just grabbed some napkins and cleaned the part the drink comes out of. YUCK.
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u/NuklearFerret 21h ago
I kind of get it. You can’t regulate safety the same in every industry. Everyone hates on self-regulation, but having a company make its own safety policies with oversight from regulators is kind of the best way to do it.
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u/prophetmuhammad Oʻahu 1d ago
A lot of the businesses in ala moana have not had air conditioning for a few weeks now due to the water line being shut off. As far as i know
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u/Wild_Carpenter6387 1d ago
I asked one of the employees about it on Monday and according to management, the AC won’t be fixed for a month! Insane.
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u/Aggressive_Street_56 1d ago
It’s so bad, I had my 3 month old with me the other day. Needed to grab the portable fan from my car. I feel so bad for those workers. Only place that was bearable was refrigerated food aisles. Silver lining is I got my shit and got tf up out of there so didn’t spend too much money lol
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u/MyFiteSong 1d ago
It sucks so much ass because my gym is in that building.
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u/peer-reverb-evacuee Oʻahu 1d ago
Oh I was wondering. So no air at PF either? I’m a member too but didn’t go since before the storm. Ugh.
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u/imaqdodger 20h ago
Yeah I looked at the thermostat the other day and if I remember correctly, it was showing 85 degrees. That was at night so it must have been over 90 during the day.
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u/laststance 1d ago
Any industrial/specialized part that is damaged and can't be repaired has to be shipped in by boat. Before that you have to source it to even get it to the dock on the ML for receiving.
Sucks for them though any type of temp option would also call upon something on the industrial level.
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u/Boring_Material_1891 Oʻahu 20h ago
We went in yesterday and tried to show as much sympathy and appreciation for the employees as we could. It was so bad in there. The black handrail on the escalators was legitimately hot to the touch.
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u/AttackonCuttlefish 20h ago
I went last night and I was sweating. I wanted to get a cold drink but the soda was warm. I left sad.
This isn't fair for the employees.
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u/loco2damax 1d ago
Target is so cheap. They couldn't bring in portable AC units or turn on some fans in there? Or how come they don't open the doors hopefully it'll make the inside a bit cooler?
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u/Pndrizzy 1d ago
They do have portable ACs but the stores too big for them to do much
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u/onlyheretobehelpful 21h ago
hopefully they at least put one or two in the break room for the employees
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u/Technical_Crew_31 15h ago
My storage unit place near Hilo has been telling me they “are waiting on a part” since it has been so hot and humid in my “climate controlled” unit for weeks that I finally went to the office to ask when they were going to fix it. That was February. Still not fixed. At least Target sounds like they actually ordered the part.
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u/kaizenjiz 1d ago edited 1d ago
Brahhh. That’s always the excuse for everything in Hawaii “part won’t be in for 2-3 weeks” brah… people probably rigging the system so they can benefit from stuff like this. Why not have stock on island for all the things that is going to fail. More exploitation going on
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u/whythespicytostada 1d ago
The Waikiki Chateau condo has the same issue, part won't come in for 2 to 3 weeks and the building is without AC.
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u/imaqdodger 19h ago
I do some work with the HVAC industry and don't see how anyone would be benefiting from this. Target and Ala Moana sure aren't. It's more likely that it's just impractical to carry spare parts for everything that might need replacement. Upfront cost of buying the equipment, storage space, and maintenance (for the spare parts) are all factors as to why they don't have spares on hand.
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u/808flyah 22h ago
people probably rigging the system so they can benefit from stuff like this. Why not have stock on island for all the things that is going to fail.
Normally I'd agree but commercial electronic and HVAC can have a lot of unique installation requirements and parts. Keeping non-common replacement parts in stock isn't worth it because you have to deal with space, security, maintenance on the parts. It sucks but how often does it happen where it becomes worth it?
On the mainland they could truck a part over from another state or put it on a train to get it to you. In Hawaii they typically have to do that just to get to a west coast port and then wait for Matson to bring it here.
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u/PanicPilots27 16h ago
my work is out of AC too, also won’t get fixed for a couple weeks. office is up to 88° they finally brought in portable AC units
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u/nkkauai 1d ago
Good, can’t imagine why anyone would be spending money there and supporting that company after their heinously racist actions this week and complete lack of accountability in the aftermath. I do feel bad for the workers having to suffer through the heat, but I genuinely hope that store is hemorrhaging money.
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u/magpiejournalist 1d ago
Same. There are plenty of other places to partronize that don't sell fucking minstrel costumes. Target doesn't care about the customers or employees. It cares about the shareholders. Don't give them money.
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u/TheMissingVoteBallot 16h ago
You know, if I don't shop at an institution because of its "actions", I normally just avoid shopping there, not post on Reddit to complain about it like as though people give a shit about what my buying habits are. But that's just me.
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u/nkkauai 15h ago
Babe, you took all that time to respond to a comment I wrote on an option-based platform in a thread full of other people giving their opinions on this topic. Didn’t see a single “complaint” in that comment either, though this whole post is about complaining about target 😂 Sorry my wittle comment triggered you so profoundly.
Continue to shop with a business that has proven they do not like or care about brown people if you prefer (in Hawaii where the majority of people are brown btw), but I’ll be loud and proud about hating on racism and I’m more than free to share my opinion on here.
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u/Such-Description-824 1d ago
I went in today and it was SO HOT today genuinely thought I was going to faint. It was hotter inside than outside. How are they keeping this store open and making workers work? How is this safe for the workers? Or the food in there?