The Old Zippy's at Waimalu Shopping Center Finally Has a New Tenant, and It Serves Dim Sum

On August 14, 2026, Aloha Manapua opened in the old Zippy's space at Waimalu Shopping Center. It's the company's third location and its first full-service restaurant with table seating. The other two locations are in Mānoa and Waipahu. A lion dance marked the grand opening at 11:30 a.m. the next morning. Before that, the corner had been dark for most of six years.

How the space emptied out matters, and so does who filled it. The company that moved in grew by taking over other neighborhood food businesses. Waimalu Shopping Center has kept going for more than 60 years with the same kind of tenant: small local kitchens that stay put.

Six Years Behind a "Temporarily Closed" Sign

The Zippy's in Waimalu had trouble well before the pandemic. In July 2015, KHON reported that rail construction along Kamehameha Highway was hurting businesses at the center. Zippy's announced it would close the restaurant on Sunday, July 19 for a little over a month. The plan was to rework the kitchen, add new equipment, and reopen with what the company called "a new concept." Then-president Paul Yokota told KHON the restaurant "may or may not open under a new name," but Zippy's would still run it.

The store reopened as a Zippy's Express on September 1, 2015. It ran that way until March 2020. That month, Zippy's named Waimalu as one of eight locations closing "until further notice" under pandemic restaurant restrictions. The shopping center's own listing for the unit at 98-048 Kamehameha Highway still says "Temporarily Closed." Zippy's current location finder has no Waimalu or Pearlridge entry. Its nearest restaurants are in Pearl City at 806 Kamehameha Highway and in Waiau at 450 Kamehameha Highway.

Aloha Manapua's Aiea website says it plainly: the new restaurant is "formerly the Zippy's restaurant in the Waimalu Shopping Center."

A Manapua Company That Grows by Taking Over

Aloha Manapua has mostly expanded by moving into food spots other operators had already built a following for. In December 2025, the business opened in Waipahu under the name Aloha Island Manapua. It took over Honolulu Kitchen at 94-861 Farrington Highway, bought the business, and kept most of its menu. The Mānoa shop, at Mānoa Marketplace, used to be called Island Manapua. Hawaii News Now described the Waimalu opening as part of a wider consolidation under one brand.

Hawaii News Now reports that Chef Qinhai Li started the business. He began training in Fujian, China, at 16. Christy Tong, the Star-Advertiser's source on the rebrand, described the company's growth this way:

"Over the years, we've grown from being a neighborhood manapua counter into a gathering place for families, friends and our community."

The Waimalu restaurant is the first one built for that larger role. Hawaii News Now describes a 2,500-square-foot space with grab-and-go food, separate dine-in seating, and a bigger menu than the other two shops.

What the Bigger Menu Adds

Manapua is still at the center of it, and the Waimalu location's expanded menu builds a lot around it. According to the Star-Advertiser and Hawaii News Now, the menu includes:

• Manapua: steamed or baked char siu, plus chicken
• Hong Kong-style dim sum: from sister restaurant Mei Sum Dim Sum. Half-moon dumplings and shrimp dumplings were each $6.35 at opening
• Ginger fried chicken with ginger-scallion sauce: the item both outlets call out by name
• Plate lunches: mini and regular sizes starting at $9.95, including chicken katsu, kalbi, hamburger steak, loco moco, and pastele stew
• Chef Li's Cantonese dishes: cold ginger chicken with scallion sauce, seafood gau, and mahi mahi with garlic cream
• Also on the menu: Peking duck, burgers, sandwiches, salads, and combination plates

Pastele stew and Peking duck on the same menu says a lot about this kitchen. It pairs Fujian training with plate-lunch staples, and that local plate-lunch side is also what keeps the rest of the center's tenants busy.

The Neighbors Who Stayed

Waimalu Shopping Center held its grand opening on November 15 and 16, 1963, with 26 merchants. The center's profile names Waimalu Chop Suey as the only tenant left from that first group. So the oldest restaurant in the center serves Chinese food, and so does the newest one.

The rest of the long-running roster follows the same pattern of family kitchens that stayed:

Shiro's Saimin Haven. Franz "Shiro" Matsuo opened it in 1969 and turned saimin into a full meal with a long list of garnishes and variations. His daughter Linda took over in 1990, and his grandson Bryce joined management in the early 2000s. The center's profile highlights noodles that are made fresh and never frozen.

Baldwin's Sweet Shop. KITV describes it as a family-owned shave ice shop founded in 1978. It's known for diabetic-friendly agave syrups. The center's profile says it was the first shave ice business in the U.S. to add açaí sorbet.

Ezogiku. According to its center profile, the brand opened its first Tokyo shop in 1968 and its first Hawaii shop in 1974, making it Hawaii's first restaurant devoted to ramen.

Kapiolani Coffee Shop. Honolulu Magazine calls the oxtail soup its signature dish. The shop's own history says founder Wataru Teruya opened it in the late 1940s or early 1950s and sold it in 1986.

Jackie's Diner and Nagoya Bakery. Jackie's serves Hawaiian and Puerto Rican food, and its center profile names pasteles and laulau as favorites. Nagoya Bakery lists a Waimalu location and singles out its azuki and coconut loaves.

All of these appear in the center's Food & Drink directory. The same directory includes Catania Ristorante Italiano, Pho Five-O, Jin Joo Korean Restaurant, Kabuki Restaurant, Cajun King, and Thai Cuisine Express. That directory was last updated in mid-2025, though, before Aloha Manapua opened. It's worth checking hours before driving over for any one of these spots.

Not every tenant has stayed. Straight Outta Husk was a Mexican counter inside Palama Supermarket, run by chef Marhen Yee Luevano and her husband Sam. It opened at Waimalu in 2023 as their first brick-and-mortar shop. Honolulu Magazine's 2026 running list of Oʻahu restaurant closures now includes it under ʻAiea. Openings and closures both happen here. Over six decades, the shops that stuck around have mostly been small local operators.

Before You Go

Some practical details are still settling, which is normal for a restaurant that opened in August:

1. Address. Aloha State Daily gives the center's main address, 98-020 Kamehameha Highway. The Star-Advertiser lists the restaurant at 98-048, the same number the center uses for the old Zippy's unit. If you knew the old Zippy's, it's the same corner.
2. Hours. Hawaii News Now reported daily hours of 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the end of August. The restaurant's Aiea website says 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Call (808) 888-0424 if you're planning an early dinner.
3. Catering. The Aiea website lists catering along with dine-in dim sum and Chinese food.

If you're heading the other way on Kamehameha Highway, there's another new ʻAiea arrival from August. Pū Kena is a coffee trailer at 98-291 Kamehameha Highway that serves coffee, matcha, tea, and açaí bowls. It uses White Nene Kona coffee beans and Uji matcha. Its owners planned it as a community gathering spot.

When a neighborhood landmark goes dark for six years, it can leave questions about what a quiet corner means for the homes and businesses around it. If you're weighing a move in ʻAiea or thinking about what your own place on this stretch of Kamehameha Highway is worth, Alicia Fu is happy to talk it through over a plate of manapua. Let's Connect.