Shimogawa Scoops

George Zimmer, the famous face and founder of Men's Warehouse, has sold another one of his Big Island of Hawaii properties to a former California wine company executive. Zimmer recently sold his Kamuela property that's on Wailea Beach on the West Shore of the island to Jackrabbit LLC, a company headed by Gregory and Vicki McManus, who once owned Napa Valley Wine Train. The sales price was about $3.5 million, public records show. Zimmer has long owned multiple properties on the Big Island, and made a big splash in late 2015 when he purchased singer Neil Young's estate on the island. After leaving Men's Warehouse several years ago, Zimmer went on to start Generation Tux, which rents suits and tuxedos online.

A teenager who attends Punahou School has recently started his own social media management agency. Scott Nakaoka, a 17-year-old senior from the prominent Honolulu school that includes former President Barack Obama as one of its former graduates, has formed Kakou Communications LLC. He told this blog that his company's goal is to help older mom-and-pop companies to modernize their business to keep up-to-date in today's society. "We want to move their paper advertising to online and help build or refresh their websites," Nakaoka said. "My generation is all about social media. We are constantly on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc., and growing up with social media helped me gain knowledge about what, when and how to post." He said it also taught him what types of posts or web designs grab people's attention and what has potential to be shared, liked and reposted. Kakou, a Hawaiian word, translates into English as "everyone" or &

A former owner of Pipeline Cafe is opening a new gastropub at Ala Moana Center's new restaurant complex that's located in part of the former Shirokiya space. Charles Jewitt's Agave & Vine LLC filed a $70,000 building permit with Honolulu regulators Wednesday for his new bar and lounge that is expected to open at The Lanai at Ala Moana in Honolulu. Karen Sakamoto of Honolulu-based Next Design LLC is listed as the architect for the project. In 2013, Jewitt registered the trade name Agave & Vine with the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. The Lanai, which also will include such tenants as Brug Bakery and Hi Tea Cafe, is scheduled to open this fall. The food court is expected to have up to 12 specialty food vendors and indoor and outdoor seating for up to 450 people. Jewitt also co-owned Apartment3 and was part of the group that opened The Republik along Kapiolani Boulevard in 2011.

Lady M, a popular pastry restaurant that has locations across the country, is opening its first Hawaii boutique in Waikiki, public records show. The company, which is headed by Hawaii native Ken Romaniszyn whose family owns the Wasabi Bistro restaurant group, filed a $45,000 building permit with Honolulu regulators Tuesday for a new store at the Waikiki Beach Walk mixed-use complex. Earlier this year, Romaniszyn registered a new business in Hawaii called "Lady M Hawaii LLC." Honolulu-based Roy K. Yamamoto Architect AIA Inc. is listed as the architect for the company's first Hawaii store. Lady M sells cakes and pastries, as well as savory items including salads and a variety of sandwiches. Waikiki Beach Walk, which is near the Trump Waikiki hotel and the Halekulani hotel, includes such tenants as Candy Bar Hawaii, Yard House, Giovanni Pastrami and Roy's Waikiki.

Diptyque Paris, the Paris-based luxury perfume and scented candles retailer, is expanding to Hawaii with a new store at Ala Moana Center in Honolulu. On Tuesday, the company filed a $90,000 building permit witht the Honolulu building department for its new store at the state's largest shopping mall. Honolulu architect Ann Kutaka is listed as the architect for the project. Diptyque's products are currently sold in such Hawaii stores as the Ala Moana Center Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom stores. Besides having several boutiques in Paris, the retailers also has stores in such major cities as London, Tokyo, Dubai, New York City, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Houston, Dallas and Chicago. The company was founded in 1961 by three friends with different career paths, including a painter, set designer and an architecture firm worker.

One of billionaire Larry Ellison's Four Seasons-branded hotels on the Hawaiian island of Lanai that has been closed since 2015 will undergo a $75 million renovation, which will include reducing the room count by about 10 rooms, adding spa treatment facilities, building new fitness buildings and a yoga pavilion and creating a waterway feature, as well as a natural free-form pool and jacuzzi, public documents show. The 102-room The Lodge at Koele, which was purchased by the Oracle Corp. co-founder in 2012 as part of his overall $300 million purchase of 98 percent of Lanai, will also undergo other upgrades such as the addition of a conservatory dining pavilion that will extend from the existing dining area, the conversion of six guestrooms into meeting rooms and four guestrooms into two large suites. Details of this major renovation at The Lodge at Koele was recently revealed in public documents filed with the County of Maui by Ellison's company Pulama Lanai. Local firm Munek

A new Las Vegas-based luxury eyewear company that has ties to a former Oakley executive is expanding to Hawaii with a shop opening in Waikiki. Vitra Eyewear, which opened its first boutique in 2015 in California, filed a building permit Friday with Honolulu regulators for its new shop at the Royal Hawaiian Center on Kalakaua Avenue. Honolulu architect Matthew Goyke, who is part of Green Sand Inc., is listed as the architect for the project. The new store is expected to open in Building "B" of the center, joining other tenants in that building such as Anteprima Wirebag, Crazy Shirts, Fighting Eel, kate spade new york and LeSportsac. Vitra, which is Latin for "glasses" or "vision," carries such luxury brands as Fendi, Lindberg and Dior with some eyewear holding a hefty price tag in the tens of thousands of dollars range. The company, which is headquartered in Las Vegas and was started by executives with many years of experience in the eyewear industry