In Hawaii, thieves go after cans of Spam

Last month in the Pearl City community on Oahu, Safeway customer Arlene Sua watched as a man grabbed eight cases of Spam and headed for the door.

She thought “‘OK, this isn’t real. No, he’s not going to take it, no, no,’ ” she told KHON TV.

But it was real. The man took off with the Spam and disappeared.

Elsewhere on the island, at about the same time, three women loaded up shopping carts at a Long’s drugstore with 18 cases of Spam. They made a rush for the exit.

An alert customer, Kurt Fevella, saw the attempted heist in progress, stationed himself at the door and stopped them in their tracks. They shoved the carts toward him and took off, Fevella told KITV4.

A shop at a downtown mall wasn’t so lucky.

The Honolulu Police Department is offering a $1,000 reward for a man (and an apparent accomplice) who entered a store Oct. 3, grabbed a case of Spam and punched a security guard who attempted to stop him.

Police reported that the thief “fled in an unknown direction.”

These Spam snatchers are not hungry people desperate for Spam, said Tina Yamaki, president of the Retail Merchants of Hawaii. They are most likely part of a Spam black market that’s taking off in a state where the demand for Spam knows no bounds.

“It’s a staple,” Yamaki said.

The thefts have proliferated to the point that some businesses are putting Spam in plastic cases under lock and key, she said, along with the more conventional and more expensive shoplifting targets such as electronics, Gillette Power Fusion razor refills and, as it happens, canned corned beef, also popular in Hawaii.

To buy a can of Spam, you have to ask a sales person to retrieve it.

Yamaki thinks Spam has become a form of currency, particularly for drug addicts in need of quick cash. With Spam selling for roughly $2.50 per 12-ounce can (depending on where in Hawaii you look), a thief who paid nothing for an 8-pack or a case of 12 can turn a decent profit underselling the retailers from whom they stole.

“It’s organized retail crime,” said Yamaki. “It’s not like ‘I’m going in to steal Spam to feed my family. I’m going in with a list of things I want to steal.’ “

To some mainland Americans, this may seem funny. But mainlanders often think of Spam either as junk email or a cheap “mystery meat” that comes in a can and has no taste.

But in Hawaii, nobody eats it plain out of the can. They eat “Spam fried rice,” or “Spam and eggs” or Spam Musubi, a sushi-like snack of cooked rice, Spam and often teriyaki sauce all wrapped in seaweed.

Try it in Hawaii, you’ll like it, Anthony Bourdain once advised.

“They love it,” he said. “They’ll make you love it.”