In
Portland, there are many shopping places using interesting ways to sell items,
that is, Uwajimaya, Tebo’s, and Portland Saturday Market, because these stores
have tried to connect items and people for three reasons.
Uwajimaya
is an Asian grocery store, specializing in Japanese items. The store has
purposes to connect Japan and people, American people and Japanese people. According
to a buyer, Hiroki, who is a second generation Japanese-American, it was more
important for more people to try new Japanese goods than to think about the
store’s profit. It is the reason customers will come back to buy these goods
again, if the goods are nice. As a result, more and more people will be
interested in Japan. The store also has a good role for Japanese who live in
America for a long time, like us, because someone including me really misses
Japanese food. The store gives us some experiences to remind us of our country.
This shop has two purposes. The store is good to know about another culture;
Japanese culture, for American people who don’t know about Japanese very well.
It is also useful for Japanese people to remember their country.
Secondly,
I’m very interested in Tebo’s. The restaurant connects people and the memory of
the past and their own community. In Portland, I learned that America has not
only franchise companies but also many local restaurants. Compared with the
past, the number of the local store decreased, because franchise companies
pushed them away, but people try to keep them now. It is the reason that people
want to keep their treasured memories, because it is very important for people
to cherish their memory to keep balance of our mind in our harsh society. At
the same time people try to keep their own community. Although at franchise
companies, it might not be common that clerks and customers are like friends,
at Tebo’s, they enjoy their conversation with each other. In such a small
space, there is a small world between people. The restaurant plays a very great
role in the community.
Finally, I
went to the Portland Saturday Market. In the market, there are many artists and
many handmade goods sold at portable shops. These shops connect American
people’s sense and other countries’ senses. Whenever I go to shops here, I’m
stunned by new ways of Americans. They look at every object in different senses
for us. One of the artists express flowers’ warmth by using light and beautiful
shapes. I felt the market has a role to tell American sense and culture to other
countries’ people. Through art we can know other countries’ ways.
In Portland, I learned many ways to sell
items. Each shopping place has a different way to connect items and “something”.
