Interview of Supporter Stores CHA, MAXI gourmet market, Svilna pot

In December 2021, CHA. MAXI gourmet market, and SVILNA POT (three stores comprised of two physical stores and one online store) were certified as the first Japanese Food and Ingredient Supporter Stores in Slovenia.

CHA is a stylish tea specialty store located in the old town area of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The store sells more than 120 varieties of tea carefully selected from all over the world, along with teaware and teacakes. As the store owner is a big fan of Japanese tea, the store offers a wide varieties of Japanese such as Sencha, Kukicha, Gyokurocha and Matcha, and introduces the charms of Japanese tea to customers.

In the tearoom in the store, the store introduces not only how to drink tea but also the culture of tea. Here, you can enjoy Japanese tea and Matcha Tiramisu served in traditional Japanese teaware. The owner says “Matcha tea is starting to be recognized in Slovenia, and there is an increasing demand for high-quality Japanese tea and teaware. Our future goal is to expand our specialty in Japanese tea and teaware.”

MAXI, which sells top-quality products carefully selected from all over the world, is located in a famous department store with more than 50 years of history, in the center of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. In the MAXI gourmet market within the store, you can enjoy gourmet foods around the world under the theme of “taking customers to a world gourmet trip.”

They offer a wide variety of meat, fish, wine, sweets, and local foods of Slovenia, and in the aisle that sells street food and Slovenian traditional food, they also sell Japanese food such as sushi. They also sell many kinds of Japanese ingredients such as Japanese whiskey, soy sauce, sesame oil, miso, dried seaweed, shiitake mushroom, wagyu, and sushi vinegar. Most popular items are whiskey, wagyu and miso. MAXI looks forward to the future as they plan to “consider offering Japanese sake, wine and beer to create a better shopping experience for customers.”

SVILNA POT, as it means “Silk Road”, sells foods from various Asian countries and regions such as the Middle East, India, Southwestern Asia, China, Korea and Japan. You can buy a range of Japanese food, including condiments such as soy sauce, miso, and okonomiyaki sauce, as well as yakisoba, instant noodles, snacks and beverage.

Before the store sells a new product, the staff tries the product so that they can explain the characteristics of the product and recommend how to combine it with other food items. They say this process is very important because “without such knowledge, we cannot successfully achieve our mission of introducing Japanese food in Slovenia.” They also introduce Japanese ingredients and recipes on their website and social media. SVILNA POT commented on their future, saying that ”the future of Japanese food in Slovenia is bright, because people are becoming interested in Japanese food. This will lead to more varieties of foods we offer.”