Demand for high-end shopping plummets

The high-end retail sector had seen rapid expansion in recent years following growth in the Cambodian economy, but the recent economic downturn brought on by the global crisis has caused a slump in sales, retail outlets say. (Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON)

Friday, 27 March 2009
Written by Soeun Say
The Phnom Penh Post

Shopping malls and supermarkets report drop in sales of between 20 percent to 50 percent as Phnom Penh's consumers feel the pinch.
SHOPPING in supermarkets and malls - a fairly recent trend in the Kingdom - has dropped off, with the economic downturn forcing consumers to cut back on spending, Phnom Penh's major outlets said this week.

Four of the city's main shopping centres have reported that sales have plummeted since the beginning of the year.

Sales at Sovanna Mall have been reduced by half, said That Rithy, a representative of the store.

Svanna Mall opened in July last year and pulled strong sales until the end of 2008. But the subsequent onset of the effects of the global economic crisis has hit sales, he said.

Pencil Supermarket General Manager Svay Sovann Ratana's said sales at his store have dropped 20 percent.

The country's marquee mall, Sorya, located in the heart of Phnom Penh, has seen a 25 percent drop in sales, according to its general manager, Lam Sopheap.

"Customers have less cash to spend since the financial crisis forced their incomes down," he said.

Food sales had remained relatively stable, while consumers were acquiring fewer nonessential items like electronics, he added.

"I keep spending on food, but I won't spend on things that are not important," said Pen Rechana, 37, an independent land speculator shopping Thursday in Sorya.

2007 and 2008 were boom years for business, she said, but the dropoff in the real-estate sector had hit her personal finances, she added.

Sorya and Sovanna have tried to keep retailers operating in their retail units by offering reduced power costs, they said.

But for retailers, the slight reduction in operating costs has been far outpaced by a much steeper decline in retail sales. "It has become very quiet," said Touch Sotheara, who runs a shoe shop in Sydney Shopping Centre.

Staff reported a 30 percent decline in sales at Sydney since the turn of the year.

"Customers come just to look; they don't buy as often as they did last year," he added. "Last year I earned between US$1,000 and $1,500 a month. Now it's more like $500 [a month]."

Cambodia has seen a downturn in a number of key sectors in recent months, leading to increasingly low GDP growth forecasts for this year.

The Asian Development Bank is due to revise its prediction for 2009 downwards next week.

Demand for high-end shopping plummets

The high-end retail sector had seen rapid expansion in recent years following growth in the Cambodian economy, but the recent economic downturn brought on by the global crisis has caused a slump in sales, retail outlets say. (Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON)

Friday, 27 March 2009
Written by Soeun Say
The Phnom Penh Post

Shopping malls and supermarkets report drop in sales of between 20 percent to 50 percent as Phnom Penh's consumers feel the pinch.
SHOPPING in supermarkets and malls - a fairly recent trend in the Kingdom - has dropped off, with the economic downturn forcing consumers to cut back on spending, Phnom Penh's major outlets said this week.

Four of the city's main shopping centres have reported that sales have plummeted since the beginning of the year.

Sales at Sovanna Mall have been reduced by half, said That Rithy, a representative of the store.

Svanna Mall opened in July last year and pulled strong sales until the end of 2008. But the subsequent onset of the effects of the global economic crisis has hit sales, he said.

Pencil Supermarket General Manager Svay Sovann Ratana's said sales at his store have dropped 20 percent.

The country's marquee mall, Sorya, located in the heart of Phnom Penh, has seen a 25 percent drop in sales, according to its general manager, Lam Sopheap.

"Customers have less cash to spend since the financial crisis forced their incomes down," he said.

Food sales had remained relatively stable, while consumers were acquiring fewer nonessential items like electronics, he added.

"I keep spending on food, but I won't spend on things that are not important," said Pen Rechana, 37, an independent land speculator shopping Thursday in Sorya.

2007 and 2008 were boom years for business, she said, but the dropoff in the real-estate sector had hit her personal finances, she added.

Sorya and Sovanna have tried to keep retailers operating in their retail units by offering reduced power costs, they said.

But for retailers, the slight reduction in operating costs has been far outpaced by a much steeper decline in retail sales. "It has become very quiet," said Touch Sotheara, who runs a shoe shop in Sydney Shopping Centre.

Staff reported a 30 percent decline in sales at Sydney since the turn of the year.

"Customers come just to look; they don't buy as often as they did last year," he added. "Last year I earned between US$1,000 and $1,500 a month. Now it's more like $500 [a month]."

Cambodia has seen a downturn in a number of key sectors in recent months, leading to increasingly low GDP growth forecasts for this year.

The Asian Development Bank is due to revise its prediction for 2009 downwards next week.

Some visit Pol Pot's grave looking for luck

Pol Pot grave (Photo: AP)

03/28/2009
AP

ANLONG VENG, Cambodia — He was one of the greatest mass killers of the 20th century, but that doesn't stop the hopeful from praying at Pol Pot's hillside grave for lucky lottery numbers, job promotions and beautiful brides.Nor does it stop tourists from picking clean the bones and ashes from the Khmer Rouge leader's burial ground in this remote town in northwestern Cambodia.

The grave is among a slew of Khmer Rouge landmarks in Anlong Veng, where the movement's guerrillas made their last stand in 1998 just as Pol Pot lay dying. A $1 million tourism master plan is being finalized to preserve and protect 15 of the sites, and charge admission.

Included on the tour will be the houses and hideouts of the Khmer Rouge leaders, an execution site and places associated with Ta Mok, a brutal commander and Anlong Veng's last boss.

"People want to see the last stronghold of the Khmer Rouge and places where they committed atrocities," says Seang Sokheng, who heads the district tourism office and himself an ex-Khmer Rouge soldier.

Anlong Veng, he says, now receives about 2,000 Cambodian and 60 foreign tourists each month — a number that should jump when a casino is built by tycoons from nearby Thailand. A museum is also in the works, spearheaded by Nhem En, the chief photographer of the Khmer Rouge's S-21 torture center in Phnom Penh, a major tourist attraction for years.

"There are museums about World War II in Europe and people are still interested in Hitler. Why not about one of the world's most infamous leaders?" says Nhem En, now the deputy chief of Anlong Veng district. The museum will include his extensive photo collection and even a rice field to show visitors how people slaved under Khmer Rouge guns during their mid-1970s reign of terror.

Like virtually everyone here, he says he took no part in the atrocities but blames the top leaders.

"Pol Pot was cremated here. Please help to preserve this historical site," reads a sign next to a mound demarcated by bottles stuck into the ground and protected by a rusting, corrugated iron roof. A few wilting flowers sprout around the unguarded grave site, which officials complain has been virtually stripped of Pol Pot's cremated remains by foreign tourists.

"People come here, especially on holy days, because they believe Pol Pot's spirit is powerful," says Tith Ponlok, who served as the leader's bodyguard and lives near the burial ground.

Cambodians in the area, he says, have won an unusual number of lotteries, prompting Thais to come across the border and beseech Pol Pot to reveal winning numbers in their dreams. Government officials from Phnom Penh and others also make the pilgrimage, asking his spirit to make assorted wishes come true.