Common Sense For New Hampshire

From Thursday’s Wall Street Journal:

GLEN BURNIE, Md.—When Chesapeake Bay Candle decided to build a U.S. factory, founders Mei Xu and David Wang thought it would take nine months and cost $2.5 million.

But $3.5 million and 13 months later, the couple is still waiting for their final occupancy permit. A temporary sign is draped across the front of the beige concrete structure, a former liquor warehouse on the outskirts of Baltimore.

“I think our government needs to ask itself, ‘Are we really ready for business to come back from Asia?’,” says Ms. Xu, a Chinese immigrant who with her husband founded Pacific Trade International, the Rockville, Md.-based company behind the Chesapeake Bay brand, in 1994. “I’m not sure it is.”

Chesapeake Bay Candle, known for scented and textured candles that sell for $9.99 at Kohl’s and Target, has set up three factories in Asia over the past 16 years. But when it came to building a plant in the U.S. to expand its customer base and better serve existing clients, the founders were unprepared for the regulatory hurdles.

The new facility was supposed to be up and running last fall, but now isn’t expected to open until the end of June. Expensive upgrades required to meet local building codes have dented margins and forced the company to rejigger its supply chain to backup deliveries with products from Asia.

Once they finally get to open there will be a ton of new obstacles to profitability because of the government.  And if they are able to somehow succeed despite all the roadblocks, Maryland will tax the daylights out of them.