At City’s 2,500-Riel Shops, It’s Buyers Beware

By Hay Pisey and Simon Henderson | June 2, 2014

Customers may not expect top-of-the-line products when they shop in discount stores for shampoos, shower gels or beauty creams. But as a police raid on a 2,500-riel store in Phnom Penh last week showed, neither should they expect to get exactly what they are paying for.
Following a complaint from Pich Beauty Co. Ltd. that the 2500 Riel Mini Mart in Daun Penh district was peddling fake lotion in Leivy’s branded containers, economic police raided the store last Monday and confiscated hundreds of bottles of counterfeit toiletries and beauty products.

Customers browse items for sale last week at a 2,500-riel store on Sihanouk Boulevard in Phnom Penh. (Siv Channa)

The scale of the potential knock-off problem is unclear, but growing fast. Authorities have only a vague idea of how many 2,500-riel shops are operating in Phnom Penh, but say they are formulating a plan to make sure their deals are real.
Ly Kong, director of the municipal commerce department, said there are only seven 2,500-riel shops officially registered in the city. But he estimated that there are between four and 10 in every city commune—anywhere between about 300 to more than 700 such shops across the city.
“These sort of shops have been open for more than a year at least, but we have not got numbers for the total amount in Phnom Penh yet,” he said, adding that he would begin asking commune officials to get the figures.
Long Sreng, chief of the Ministry of Interior’s economic police department, who led last Monday’s raid, said it is highly likely that other products stocked by the city’s numerous 2,500-riel marts do not comply with trading standards, whether they are fake, rebranded or simply well past expiry dates.
For the economic police department, cutting off the supply chain of such fake goods will become a priority, he said.
“First of all, we intend to find out who produced the fake shampoos and other products we found [last Monday] because they pose a threat to the country’s economy and public safety,” Brigadier General Sreng said.
Police believe that empty branded bottles seized last week were imported from Vietnam and then filled with counterfeit product in Cambodia, and have compiled a report on last week’s raid and sent it on to Camcontrol, the Commerce Ministry’s customs inspection unit, he added.
“I don’t know when they will take action, but we have informed Camcontrol authorities and they will then go and carry out quality control checks in 2,500-riel marts, especially on food products that may have already expired.”
Mom Dany, 50, who runs four 2,500-riel shops in Phnom Penh, the first of which she opened two years ago, said she had heard all about the police bust on Monday but had no worries about a similar raid on her own outlets.
“I do not worry about police investigating my shops because the products are all listed with the correct expiry date and there are no expired or fake products,” she said at one of her shops in Chamkar Mon district, adding that her daughter and son-in-law travel to Thailand and China and purchase stock directly from wholesalers.
Ms. Dany said that as 2,500-riel shops are becoming ever more popular, with increasing competition between them, many retailers are likely feeling threatened.
“There must be some supermarket owners making complaints to the police because they charge more than 2,500 riel for the same product,” she said.
The 2,500-riel shops are also facing the threat of being undercut, with 2,400-riel stores now popping up. In a crowded market, discounted name-brands and household miscellanies are being sold for a fraction of the price they can be bought for at the supermarket, or even at the local market.
Chiv Ty owns two 2,400-riel shops and claims to have come up with the idea for discount shops in Cambodia after visiting Japan and seeing the success of similar stores there. Since he opened his first shop in Tuol Kok district’s Phsar Doeum Kor commune just one year ago, the venture has proved very successful.
“I make about $750 in an average day, earning a profit of between $100 to $200 per day,” he said, adding that he employs 10 people in each store.
His success, he says, is based on a simple premise—he sells products at prices that customers who earn low salaries can afford to buy, though everything on sale is not being sold at the eponymous price.
“My prices start at 2,400 riel and go up to $10,” he said. “But the same products in a market are hard to bargain, while my prices are low and they are set.”
He buys his goods exclusively from middlemen who come to him with whatever they have on offer. “About 80 percent of the products I buy are from China and the rest are from Thailand, Vietnam, or here in Cambodia,” he said.
But keenness for a bargain does not inure all customers to the potential risks involved. At a 2,500-riel shop on Sihanouk Boulevard, shoppers said they were not surprised at the police’s discovery.
“I would buy only some types of products in this kind of shop,” said 23-year-old Her Rainer. “I wouldn’t buy food and snacks or beauty products because I don’t trust those types of products when they are very cheap.”
Another customer, Hang Monika, also 23, said she shops at 2,500-riel stores for kitchen products such as dishwashing soap, plates and anything that doesn’t pose a health risk.
“I would never buy food and lotions at discount shops because I know they will not be good quality,” she said.
And the pay-off for all 2,500-riel-shop entrepreneurs is not guaranteed. The overabundance and proximity of selfsame discount shops selling similar or identical products has introduced some business owners to the law of diminishing returns.
Kim Leang said there are about six of the same shops on the same street as her store in Chamkar Mon district, all of which sell similar goods—all bought from the same wholesalers.
“I have been running my business for about a year now, and for the first half of the year, business was fine,” she said.
Now, many people are running the same kind of business and the glut of 2,500 shops now open on Street 271 has left her pessimistic about the future of her enterprise.
“My business is slow now. There are just too many shops on the same street.”
pisey@cambodiadaily.com, henderson@cambodiadaily.com

© 2014, The Cambodia Daily. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in print, electronically, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without written permission.

Workers Turn Models on Political Catwalk

By Mech Dara and Alex Willemyns | May 26, 2014

About 150 garment workers turned out to the Phnom Penh of­fices of the United Sisterhood Alliance NGO on Sunday to watch a politically charged fashion show entitled “Beautiful Clothes, Ugly Reality.”
Aimed to highlight “the income gap between Cambodian garment workers and the selected CEOs of brand companies,” according to show organizers, the two-hour program featured a medley of cat-walking, political theater and speeches calling for a $160 month­ly basic wage. 

Workers model clothes at the ‘Beautiful Clothes, Ugly Reality’ fashion show in Phnom Penh on Sunday. (Siv Channa)

After a brief dance described as “crackdown hip-hop,” which featured four young men “krump­ing” with their arms over house music punctuated by gun-shot sound effects, a group of about a dozen female garment workers, on their day off work, emerged onto the catwalk.
The workers-turned-models, who served as the stars of the rest of the show, presented a range of colorful clothing that had no unifying theme other than hav­ing been produced in a Cam­bo­dian garment factory.
Items spanned from unbranded plain black dresses to jacket tops and T-shirts displaying the “Pu­ma” and “Adidas” logos.
Event organizers said the show was designed to stress to both the government and the brands being displayed—H&M, Adidas, Puma, Gap, Old Navy and Nike—the need for a higher basic wage.
“If we don’t demand, there will be no change,” said Phon Sreivin, one of the workers who took part in the program.
“Before the government decided to give us only $95, but after the workers’ demand movement, the government agreed to pay us more—and we will continue to make demands until we can live in dignity,” she said.
The show soon transitioned into a more openly political segment, with the garment-worker models re-emerging onto the catwalk to present a list of problems faced by workers on the current $100 basic monthly wage.
Wearing white shirts and red bandanas, the women presented grievances including “forced overtime,” “fixed duration contracts” and “health risks.”
Songs such as Swedish duo Icona Pop’s 2012 hit “I Love It”—whose distinctive electro-house chorus repeatedly rings out “I don’t care, I love it”—were blasted over the speakers during the circuit.
The models were then joined by a flurry of others, dressed as protesters and activists wearing the “$160” headbands of the na­tionwide garment worker strike that began late last year.
The group marched in frenetic circuits of the catwalk until the inevitable theater of repression ar­rived in the form of men dressed up as the notorious, helmeted district security guards.
With some of the guards armed with toy rifles, the forces and the protesters tussled in a choreographed back-and-forth. A protester was then shot dead in a dramatization of the strike repressions of January.
After the show, garment workers who attended said that the demands for a $160 basic monthly wage were still alive in their minds.
“The arrest, ban, threats and killing of our activists cannot prevent a workers’ movement,” said Hil Chandy, 23. “We still demand all buyers take responsibility to find a solution for $160 for all workers.”
dara@cambodiadaily.com, willemyns@cambodiadaily.com

After Budget Cuts, Institut Francais Looks to Rebuild

By Michelle Vachon | June 8, 2014

In the heyday of Indochina prior to World War II, France’s colonial policy in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam included a “mission civilisatrice,” or civilizing mission.
Cambodia had the good fortune that Frenchmen such as George Groslier, Adhemard Leclere and members of the research institute Ecole francaise d’Extreme-Orient interpreted this as both bringing in French knowledge and technological advances, and helping Cambodians research and develop their arts and culture.

The Institut Francais (Siv Channa)

While this “mission” has faded away along with its colonial empire, France has continued what could be called cultural diplomacy, that is, using French culture in all its forms—from culinary to performing and visual arts—as a way to promote France and develop international relations.
The French Cultural Center, now called the Institut Francais, opened its doors in the early 1990s and has since been a cornerstone of this policy—initiating Cambodians to the best of French culture while supporting Cambodian artists as they forge ahead in defining this country’s cultural identity.
But its plans were abruptly disrupted in the late 2000s when the French government’s first budget cuts were applied to staggering effect over the next few years.
Today, the Institut Francais’ budget is about a quarter of what it was in 2010, which has translated into severe cuts in its cultural activities.
In the absence of a Cambodian-government arts development policy or a contemporary arts museum, the Institut Francais has offered artists in every field—from circus artists to actors, dancers, musicians and visual artists—outlets to develop and produce their work. Any drop in its activities is deeply felt among the country’s artists.
In November 2004, the institute’s organizers had brought to Phnom Penh more than 200 Cambodian circus artists, making Cambodians and foreigners aware that the form was part of the country’s tradition. The week-long festival Tini Tinou, or “here and there,” also included French circus artists and attracted thousands of visitors.
By 2007, however, the Institut Francais could no longer afford to hold the event and turned it over to the organization Phare Ponleu Selpak in Battambang city, which runs a circus school.  But this proved too taxing on Phare’s resources and the festival disappeared in 2010. In the meantime, enrollment at the National Circus School in Phnom Penh has dropped to two students this year, with the lack of opportunities to perform discouraging young Cambodians from pursuing that career.
The other major loss has been the “Lakhaon” theater festival. An annual event since 2007, it usually involved a renowned French director who staged either a French classic such as Moliere’s “The Miser” or a Cambodian work. The shows were staged with Cambodian actors and presented in Khmer with French and English subtitles. During the last festival in 2012, a French writer-director of Cambodian parentage, Jean-Baptiste Phou, staged a four-character play featuring Cambodian actress Dy Saveth and set in the waiting room of the Cambodian Embassy in Paris.

Phang Vathana, left, and Nop Sangvaleaph at work in Le Bistro, the Institut Francais restaurant that opened in late March. (Siv Channa)

The festival included Cambodian companies and was a showcase for those from the provinces, said Olivier Planchon, the French Embassy’s cultural attaché and the institute’s deputy director. “There are many of them and they rarely perform in Phnom Penh,” he said. Efforts were made throughout the years to present the 26 forms of Cambodian theater, putting an emphasis on those that had hardly ever been produced, he added.
Since the last “Lakhaon” two years ago, Cambodian theater has virtually gone dark in Phnom Penh, as such event requires not only funds but also the technical know-how of the Institut Francais’ French and Cambodian teams.
Over the last two decades, the Institut Francais’ role and budgets worldwide have altered according to economic constraints but also due to changes in French governments and senior public servants, with some seeing support to the arts in developing countries as essential as assistance to rural development or education, while others have viewed the institute’s role strictly as a public relations entity promoting French culture.
This has led to budget cuts at the institutes throughout the world.
“But in Cambodia, we have been especially affected because the budget had been so high,” Mr. Planchon noted. “We had been favored with grants much bigger than elsewhere. This was the legacy of the 1990s, the years…during which France as well as other countries had invested heavily to help rebuild the country in all fields and [in the case of France] in the cultural sector.”
Today, the institute’s funding for cultural programs is minimal.
But even amid the cuts, due to French government accounting, there remained last year funding available for “investment” in Cambodia. That money could not be carried into cultural programs, said Romain Louvet, cooperation and cultural program advisor at the French Embassy in Phnom Penh and the institute’s director. With something of an eye to loopholes, the institute spent the funds on an extensive renovation program that has transformed the Institut Francais’ buildings on Street 184, enclosing the ground-floor hall on one side of the street, and adding a glass-cube reception area plus an outdoor bistro and an indoor restaurant on the other.
“Since we had ‘reserves’ available, it seemed appropriate to get involved in a building program that would demonstrate the Institut Français’ wish to be in line with the time,” Mr. Louvet said.
The institute had been at that same location since the early 1990s with no renovation done for a number of years. And if this week was any indication, students who gravitate around the institute appreciate its new features: They enjoy the garden seating areas along the library and take advantage of the air-conditioned exhibition hall in the midday heat.
Finding themselves with next to no budget for cultural programs, the institute has instead tried to come up with a strategy to generate funds, well aware that it will take years—if ever—before it can operate at the early 2000s levels.
One major element of this tactic has been to open a French restaurant. Set up during the building makeover, Le Bistro is now operated by the institute in partnership with Le Votre—a French catering service specializing in supplies for restaurants. Its goal is to attract a Cambodian as well as Western clientele; its menu at this point is classic French cuisine, restaurant Manager Anthony Hervoche said. “It’s French culture through its cuisine.”

Le Bistro restaurant at the Institut Francais. (Siv Channa)

The Institut Francais also hopes the number of students taking French-language lessons will increase. There currently are 5,000 students enrolled in Phnom Penh and at the institute’s annexes in Battambang City and Siem Reap City.
Another way for the institute to continue activities with little or no budget has been to take advantage of touring events that the French government organizes each year as part of its “cultural diplomacy,” which are funded out of a budget separate from that of the Institut Francais.
The institute’s current exhibition, Arts and Food, featuring photos on the theme of food is one such event.
The dance performance presented Wednesday night by French director Fabrice Planquette of the A.Lter S.Essio company, was another. This performance enabled the institute to stage a Cambodian production—Chumvan Sodhachivy’s dance “Alphabet”—in the same show, Mr. Planchon said. In the same way, the concert of the French rock band Dissonant Nation Thursday night at Chenla Theater will also feature the Cambodian rock band Cartoon Emo.
When the Institut Francais celebrated its 20th anniversary two years ago, 20 of the country’s foremost painters and photographers—such as Sopheap Pich, Mak Remissa, Sre Bandaul, Meas Sokhorn, Chhim Sothy and Em Riem—donated artworks for a silent auction to benefit colleagues in financial difficulties. Some of these artists whose works sold for thousands of dollars had agreed to this because the Institut Francais was asking.
“Since its opening, the institute has tremendously supported Cambodian artists,” painter Chhim Sothy explained at the time. “It may have been called ‘French’ Cultural Center, but it was not French but Cambodian artists who were encouraged and exhibited there.”
vachon@cambodiadaily.com

© 2014, The Cambodia Daily. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in print, electronically, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without written permission.