It doesn't look like a very happy Thanksgiving for Sharon Au at the Hau'ula Thrift Store. She's being evicted after riding out 10 years at the Hau'ula Shopping Center while other stores quit. Now that stores are coming back in, she's been told to leave.

I heard about the thrift shop from a customer, Keone Montes.

He wrote, "It's a travesty. A lot of us here in Hau'ula are low-income and depend on this store for some of our shopping. My sister does most of her children's school shopping at this store. The closest other thrift store is in Kailua. With the price of gasoline being what it is, having a thrift store here is very convenient. Sharon is a sweet little lady. She keeps the store spic-and-span."

Montes explained that the Hau'ula Shopping Center used to be a bustling place with a Pay 'N' Save, an IGA Super Market, a bakery and smaller shops. Then Pay 'N' Save and IGA Super Market moved out. Hau'ula Shopping Center became a ghost town with only the post office and thrift shop remaining.

"But Sharon Au stayed on, determined to keep the store open even though, she says, she seldom made a profit," Montes wrote. He said there was a turnaround at the shopping center when Tamura's Super Market moved in, then Domino's Pizza and Papa Ole's Restaurant.

"Lo and behold, Hau'ula is alive again after all these years," wrote Montes. But Au was given notice to vacate her thrift shop by Nov. 30.

Au confirmed that she is being evicted and that she was given no reason although she has always paid her rent. She said her landlord is the Weinberg Foundation, and that she has repeatedly asked to speak to the person in charge but is not permitted.

I tried to ask the official of the foundation about the rationale of the eviction. He did not return two telephone messages I left last week, although I explained that I would have to report this in my story.

Linda Blagrave, a retired police detective and a strong supporter of the Hau'ula Thrift Store, said she got the same response.

"I wrote a letter to the foundation and didn't get an answer," she said. "It's a shame. The Thrift Store is good for this depressed community. Sharon works like a slave and gets no credit for it. The place was falling apart. She fixed it up."

John Okzowka, a member of the Hau'ula Community Association, said he's written a postcard to the foundation in support of the Thrift Store. He said Au's husband fixes appliances. He fixed Okzowka's washing machine.

Carol DeSalvo, a Hau'ula housewife, said: "The way kids grow, it's great to have the store. I pick up things for the kids and my grandchildren. If we didn't have this Thrift Store, we'd have to go to Mililani or downtown to shop. A lot of people here don't have cars. We're bus people. My family shops at the Thrift Store at least once a week. Everything Sharon has is clean."

Reach Bob Krauss at 525-8073.