Designated retail shops will begin selling franchised Olympic items in Beijing next month.

Products available will include clothing, stationery, handicrafts and other souvenirs in a range geared to meet the tastes of ordinary consumers as well as collectors. The number of different items could rise to 10,000 in the near future.

The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) selected the ten franchisers and seven retail outlets that are authorized to trade in authentic goods during the trial period.

The franchisers mainly handle design and production while the retailers are responsible for sales.

"Consumers who buy these goods from the franchised stores are also supporting and contributing to the 2008 Olympic Games," said BOCOG's Yuan Bin

Yuan Bin says the committee will ensure that identical products are sold for the same prices at all franchised stores.

To prevent fraud, all the commodities are identified by state-of-the-art anti-counterfeiting technology.

Yuan said that by 2005, the International Olympic Organizing Committee will authorize the sale of Beijing Olympics products at overseas franchised stores.

Starting next month, people will be able to buy the products in Beijing's major shopping venues: Wangfujing and Xidan in the downtown area; Jianguomen’s International Trade Center, at the core of the Central Business District; and the Capital Airport.

(CRI.com July 29, 2004)