When the Market Comes to Your Door
Mobile markets have become popular by bringing basic needs, from food to home appliances, to people’s doors. Photo: Nhor Sokhoeurn
- By Nhor Sokhoeurn
- January 1, 2024 9:55 AM
PHNOM PENH – Mobile markets have become popular by bringing basic needs, from food to home appliances, to people’s doors.
The services mean that people don’t need to go as often to crowded markets and are among the businesses highlighted in Cambodia’s latest Census.
This shows that the country’s 77,073 street traders account for about 10 percent of the country’s businesses.
Meat, vegetables, fruit, soup ingredients, clothes and shoes are among the products hanging on mobile vendors’ vehicles, sometime just motorbikes or trailers pulled by motos.
Hoy Leangsim, 46, from Kandal’s S’ang district, has sold fish, pork and vegetables for eight years.
“I buy all these meats and vegetables from Chbar Ampov market at a lower price, and I sell them at a bit higher price,” she said.
“Let’s say I buy salad for 3,000 riel per kilogram from Chbar Ampov market and I sell it for 4,000 riel per kilogram.
The services mean that people don’t need to go as often to crowded markets and are among the businesses highlighted in Cambodia’s latest Census. Photo: Nhor Sokhhoeurn
“I sell only in the morning, seven days a week. I don’t sell it when the national festival is coming,” she said.
She sells pork, fish, vegetables, shrimp and other ingredients for Khmer soup using her motorcycle.
Leangsim said it is not easy to travel with such heavy items but she must work for her living.
Such businesses are making the life of Phnom Penh’s citizens easier, especially those who are busy at work and don’t want to go to a market far from home.
Hon Moi, 24, lives in Boeung Salang commune. She has a one-year-old baby and her husband is a motorbike mechanic.
“My husband is so busy with his work. I cannot go to the market far away from my home,” she said.
“I am scared to leave my baby at home but when mobile market comes I can buy food without going out and it doesn't take me so long.
“They sell food in front of my home. If the price is a bit higher, it is okay, because they do business to find the profit,” she said.
“I buy food from the mobile market almost every day. I go to the market when I want to buy many ingredients.”
Pen tach, 45, from Phnom Penh, also picks up food from vendors. She doesn’t want to go to the market because she doesn’t buy many ingredients. Buying from the mobile market is easy.
Cambodia has 753,670 businesses, operated by nearly three million people, including street businesses, according to the Economic Census 2022 released on December 26.
