Kona Walmart wins regional honor, leads U.S. fundraising for children’s hospital

Kona Walmart’s latest honor says as much about Big Island retail as it does about corporate recognition. The store at 75-1015 Henry St. in Kailua-Kona, store No. 2321, was named the 2025 Division 1 Hometown Store of the Year for Walmart’s Region 57, and it paired that regional win with the nation’s top Walmart fundraising total for Children’s Miracle Network hospitals.

The award covered a stretch that included Hawaiʻi, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Southern Utah, but Kona’s performance stood out for a different reason: it was judged on customer service, sales performance, community outreach and other company standards, not just revenue. For a west-side Big Island store, that points to more than busy registers. It reflects a location that has to keep shoppers supplied, employees engaged and community ties strong in a market where every delivery, labor shift and seasonal rush matters.

Kona Walmart raised $117,747 in 2025 for Kapiʻolani Medical Center for Women and Children, the Hawaiʻi Children’s Miracle Network hospital. That total made it Walmart’s top fundraising store in the United States, a rare distinction for a store competing against far larger mainland markets. Store manager John Yates III credited the team with pulling together through a difficult year and surpassing its goals as associates, department managers, Walmart executives and guests gathered for a day of celebration.

The store’s result also fits a broader Hawaiʻi pattern. In 2024, Kona Walmart raised more than $100,000 and ranked second among all Walmart locations nationwide, behind Hilo Walmart, as part of what has been described as a Team Big Island effort. Across the state, nine Walmart stores, two Sam’s Club locations and one distribution center raised more than $819,000 for Kapiʻolani in 2024. The 2025 summer campaign added another $681,886, helping the hospital purchase a new ECMO machine for critically ill children.

That money matters because Children’s Miracle Network support at Kapiʻolani pays for research, training, equipment and uncompensated care. Hawaii Pacific Health has said six of the nation’s top 10 Walmart fundraising stores were in Hawaiʻi in 2025, underscoring how unusual the state’s performance has become. For Kona, the award shows a local store can be more than a shopping stop. It can be a steady employer, a community fundraiser and one of the island’s more reliable engines of outside money flowing back into local families and pediatric care.