The Polynesian Cultural Center prides itself on its role in perpetuating and representing Pacific island cultures, so some return visitors to Hawai'i's most popular attraction were surprised to find that local crafters long featured in its gift shops were gone, displaced by a national company that specializes in gift shop operations.

One woman complained that what's being sold there now is "exactly the same things that you can find in Waikiki hotel shops."

Event Network, a San Diego-based company that operates gift shops for numerous museums, aquariums and cultural attractions, took over retail operations at the Polynesian Cultural Center in La'ie last year.

In doing so, the company said it planned to sell "everything from authentic island handicrafts to fine jewelry to apparel and souvenirs."

But now some Christmas shoppers say they're unable to find the authentic gift items made by local crafters that were once sold at the center.

Windward resident Kathy Connors said when she went to the center earlier this year to buy traditional Polynesian carvings and locally made jewelry, many of those items were no longer available. She said at that time the retail shops were being remodeled and she assumed that those gifts would return once the remodeling was finished.

"It was only in this last month when I was there looking for Christmas gifts that I asked and was told, no, that a California company had taken it over and they (local crafters) wouldn't be coming back."

'YOU ... HAVE TO ADJUST'

Susan Kunz, director of PCC's retail stores for Event Network, acknowledged that all six local crafters, including four vendors who ran several center shops, were let go when her company took over.

She said PCC let them know they were welcome to become wholesalers for the center. Since then, one crafter has started wholesaling her Tahitian skirts to the center, and Kunz hopes other crafters will follow.

The crafters could not be reached for comment.

Said Kunz, who used to be a local crafter: "There were a lot of unhappy feelings. For some of these people that was their whole livelihood. So that's a tough thing. But it just becomes a different business model. You just have to adjust. It's a different way of doing business."

Kunz said the challenge is maintaining a product balance that serves everyone from Saudi princes to everyday tourists. Because PCC is a huge cultural attraction serving some 700,000 people a year, it must have a steady supply of quality products, she added.

"I need to find people who can supply me and who can keep me in product and who can deal with a company," she said. "We don't do cash on delivery, for example. And we're not a craft fair. We're not one-time buyers. So we deal with purchase orders. And we pay with check after 30 days — that kind of thing.

"And some of that becomes very difficult for our local crafters because they're not used to it."

QUILTS FROM PHILIPPINES

The loss of the local crafters upset the S. Lee family of Windward O'ahu so much that they sent an e-mail to Event Network president Larry Gilbert on Nov. 28. In the e-mail, the family said that while they thought the remodeled shops were beautiful, they were disappointed to discover that "many of our wonderful local crafters have been kicked out! Why?"

Gilbert responded with an e-mail the following day that said Event Network was committed to offering local crafts and foods. He stressed that the product selection process was evolving, and that the company "is dedicated to extending the authenticity of the experience into the retail environment."

Kunz and Gilbert said PCC offers a wide variety of products made in Hawai'i and the Pacific — from bath products to candles, jewelry to aloha wear, and even tapa cloth made both in Hawai'i and Fiji.

Other authentic-appearing products are produced elsewhere to keep them affordable, they said. The center's Hawaiian-style quilts, for example, are produced in the Philippines.

But Connors believes that for reasons both cultural and economic it is becoming increasingly difficult for local crafters to find outlets. Many don't have computers or Internet access at home, she said, and some are unfamiliar with the complicated process involved with large retail sales.

She wishes something could be done to change that.

Chuck Steilen, dean of the Hawai'i Pacific University Business School, for one, has tried. Earlier this year, Steilen gave a free marketing seminar to a dozen Polynesian crafters in Windward O'ahu. He said their problem is worldwide and has been around for decades.

"You have X number of people who are artists, so to speak," said Steilen, who for decades has worked to teach marketing techniques to people in Asia and the Pacific. "And then you have out there a market. And, unfortunately, you have this huge gap between those artists and crafters, and wherever that market is located."

Creative artists and successful business strategies have seldom had a comfortable relationship, according to him.

"This is not at all unique to Hawai'i," said Steilen. "I've done these same programs in the jungles of Borneo."

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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