Beijing souvenir stores flourish as pirates flee
BEIJING (Reuters) - From a set of jade mascots for $40,000 to a face cloth for 72 cents, up to 5,000 official Olympics souvenirs are on sale in Beijing and tourists hoping to snap up cheap fake copies are likely to be disappointed.
The Beijing government has licensed about 230 stores across the city to sell a range of branded goods, many emblazoned with the Olympic mascots, the five colorful "Friendlies" or Fuwa, smiling out from T-shirts, teaspoons, and tea sets.
It seems the Friendlies have no foes in a city known as a pirate's paradise. Authorities cracked down hard on Olympic fakes ahead of the Aug 8-24 Games, processing nearly 3,000 cases by the end of June, including items like fake Olympic cigarettes.
Visitors to the city's huge indoor markets are struggling to find any Olympic rip-offs among the fake designer clothing, watches and handbags still openly being sold by stallholders hissing Coach, Gucci, and Prada at passers-by.
"We found absolutely no Olympic fakes in the Pearl Market," said British tourist Melanie Barton, a laboratory technician, from Nottingham, referring to a market specializing in jewelry.
"We'll probably take a few pins home and I think the Fuwas are really cute but that will be about it."
A manager at the Super Store for Olympic merchandise in the Olympic Green, home to the Bird's Nest stadium and Water Cube, said souvenir mascots were most popular. The red Huanhuan, who has a head like an Olympic torch, was the best seller.
He said about 70,000 people a day were stomping through the store causing massive queues but only a handful of people had bought the most expensive item in his store, a $7,200 vase.
Inquiries to find out sales of a limited edition five-piece set of the mascots carved in jade for $40,000 went unanswered.
Beijing, as the host city, stands to receive up to 15 percent of the revenue from Olympic merchandise, with reports in the Chinese media that officials were expecting to top the $62 million raised at the 2004 Athens games.
But some tourists were underwhelmed by the choice of goods on offer despite the shelves of pins, keyrings, T-shirts, baseball caps, pens, umbrellas, flags, and models of the Water Cube swimming stadium, saying there was nothing really interesting.
"It's all pretty tacky, cheap and cheerful trinkets, but nothing you'd really want to take home," said Dave Owen, a plumber from Melbourne in Australia.
"There's a lot here but there could be a better selection of shirts and clothing. I'm just buying my mother a few pins. I won't get anything for myself."
(Editing by Keith Weir)
