Finding the real Maine in China

14 years ago

Finding the real Maine in China

To the editor:

When I was living in England I learned that a baked potato was called a jacket potato. It is nice to have your food dress up special just for you isn’t it? Maine spuds can make fry the Brits when it comes to taste. Thanks to the cracker jack staff at the Maine Potato Board a small package of Spud hats and pins are on their way here to China.

In Guang Zhou, there is a department store called Jusco. A major department store it is well known for selling top of the line merchandise and a wide range of foreign products. In the past week I have been there twice and two very interesting items stood out. First, when you enter the store from the south side, there is a super huge picture of a model in full LL Bean regalia and signs pointing to the kiosk shop within the Jusco store. It has a very prominent position in the outdoor materials section of the store. Now the rant! Not certain if the clerks at LL Bean’s will give you a discount if you wave this article at them but you might try it with a charming smile. I have enough LL Bean items to fill a catalog. And they send anywhere in the world. My old mailing address in South Korea still gets copies of the catalog.

Guang Zhou is a tropical place. This means that it gets wet. Pretty easy to figure out. Lots, lots, and lots of trees, bushes, flowers, and waterways. The foliage sweats because of the heat. A walk under a canopy of leaves can easily leave your antiperspirant filing divorce papers.

I had brought myself a small umbrella from LL Bean’s. A good decent one that I knew would hold up when the high winds later in the summer come in. Cool colors too. Having mislaid the item I sought to replace it. I went to the small kiosk shop in the biggest shopping mall in Guang Zhou. A place where the trains for Hong Kong leave and depart on a regular basis.

I should have realized that while the store bought the name and stocked it with a few sundries, the buyer for the store lives in a barrel of salt. No umbrellas! No hats! And no Maine foods. Lots and lots of super sized pictures of the Moosehead and Sebago lakes region with New York models trying to pass themselves off as Mainers. You will note that the models are too thin to have sat down for a delightful hunter’s breakfast. There was a tawdry fake LL Bean boot modeled after the real one in Freeport. No models of the boot to be seen. Decent clothes but none of the charm of the store in Freeport. Like most Chinese stores, lots of clerks, and they were doing their best. But they had no idea about the products, product lines or equipment that are in the store. Not even a catalog for perusal! And certainly not a computer to e-mail the crew at the international center. A real downer.

Then to top it off, you leave this delightful kiosk and a few steps away is the JP booth. JP or Jacket Potato Company is a British chain that sells baked potatoes. Using a basic round white, they offered a variety of stuffings for the spuds. The special of the day was one with tuna and cheese. The spuds were on the smaller No.1 size but clearly bake-able. In a space no bigger than the typical ice shack there was a baking oven, soda fountain, fridge and three happy clerks.

The scent of roast potato permeates the space. Talk about homesick. Why is it that LL Bean’s is unable to act as a bridge between the world and Maine. Prized for its unique heritage, its kiosk was a humdrum affair competing with North Face, Columbia, and One Sport chains. Where were the brochures about Madawaska Lake and Aroostook State Park? No Moose hats or bear shirts to be seen. And certainly not any mention of Maine spuds!

Classic economic theory explains that creating demand expands markets. This is an opportunity and the sad thing is that there is no Maine at LL Bean’s in Guang Zhou. How about a limited number of premium Chef’s Prides wrapped in Gold Foil? Where is the Maine blueberry? How about lobster claws and moose turds in lucite? People here have money and desire. Our biggest name recognition comes from the reputation of LL Bean. Yet, no Maine. And no umbrellas!

Orpheus Allison

Guang Zhou, China

orpheusallison@mac.com