From pestles to battleships

From pestles to battleships

Faced with shortages at supermarkets, Bangkokians are turning to local stores and wet markets

On a regular shopping day, where do you get your groceries, at a malodorous wet market or an air-conditioned supermarket?


Weekends or weekdays, rain or sun, dry or flooded, wet markets and local general stores always cater to their communities. ANUSORN SAKSEREE

How about buying household necessities like toiletries and laundry goods, do you patronise a small general store at the mouth of the soi or a multi-level hypermarket?

And what if you need to do some home improvements, will you check out a local hardware joint or drive to a big-brand retailer with aisles of tools and building materials systematically laid out?
Seven out of 10 people will pick the latter option for all three questions.

Thanks to their attractive environment and immense variety of goods, today more than half the city population frequents modern retail facilities for almost all their household requirements. Compared to old-fashioned community vendors, which are now facing the last breath of fortune, modern stores are perceived as more inviting, more comprehensive and, most importantly, more dependable.

Over the past few weeks, urban dwellers, overwhelmed by the fear of flooding, have rushed to their usual retail outlets for bottled water, eggs, instant noodles, canned food, plastic sheets, glue, silicone putty and duct tape, only to be blithely told that such goods are out of stock.

Panic-stricken, they quickly shifted to other branches only to be greeted by empty shelf upon empty shelf. After checking out many supermarkets, superstores, hypermarkets and big-name hardware outlets, Bangkokians came to the sobering conclusion that the city was facing a serious shortage of food and consumer goods.


With the mushrooming of airconditioned supermarkets and multi-level hypermarkets, local grocers may be facing their last opportunity.

Empty shelves at modern retail facilities may be giving the public a false alarm, however. The truth is, food _ fresh and preserved _ as well as drinking water are still plentiful at local fresh markets, while essential hardware items are always within reach at ubiquitous streetside hardware shops.

"Small community stores have helped me a great deal in this situation. Whereas I couldn't find plastic buckets, silicone and glue at [a big-brand home improvement outlet], I was able to get all of them right here at the ran cho huay [local general store] near my house. And, let me tell you, what you can't find at [a famous convenient store], you can find at your local shop. It may sound like idle talk but it's definitely the truth," said Suda Chaisanit, a middle-aged housewife from Sai Mai district.

Restaurateur Kanita Tungwarapojwitan has been through a similar situation. She said that when she heard the flood was approaching the downtown area, she and her partner quickly headed to a home improvement superstore to get building materials to protect their restaurant, only to find that they were out of stock.

''We began to panic and starting calling friends and family for help. But as we drove along Rama IV Road, we saw a small hardware shop and decided to make a stop. I couldn't believe that the quaint little shop had everything we needed whether it was putty, silicone guns or PVC pipes. Most impressively, they hadn't raised the prices.

''So from then on, I've put my trust in small traders. While a lot of people were complaining about the scarcity of instant noodles, I was able to get many boxes from a grocer in a wet market and give them to my employees. You should try going to Klong Toey or Asoke market and you'll find everything, '' Kanita said.

The restaurant owner also added that even though she understands that factors like logistics and manufacturing capacity at factories may have caused the current inventory failure at modern stores, deep down she was truly disappointed with the shopping facilities she had always relied on.

''I feel that modern retailers have failed to support us in the time we need them most. Instead, we can always rely on small shops that we've been taking for granted for years,'' she added.

Certainly, the flooding crisis has brought more customers to local shops. Yet, shopkeepers don't see this as a reason to be joyful. ''Our sales volume have increased dramatically since the flood. But I'm not happy because most customers seem very desperate and stressful,'' said Pornthip Tangjai, a grocer in the Sukhumvit area.

''Over these past weeks people came particularly for basics like rice, sugar, water and eggs. I always tell them to buy a little at a time so we have enough supplies for everybody. In a critical time like this, I don't think it's a good idea to overstock but to consume wisely and frugally so we don't generate more trash,'' she said.

Pornthip's grocery shop, established before she was born, has been a stable yet sometimes overlooked retailing resource in the community for more than 40 years. The relationship between shopkeepers and customers seems to be built solely on compassion and trust.

''We do our best to serve our customers. For example, today you may come looking for an item that we don't have, but tomorrow or the day after you will find the product available. Because we are a small trader, we don't have to go by contracts or shipping schedules with manufacturers or big trading agents. We can get merchandise from anywhere and at anytime we want. We might even sell our household belongings if the customer is in real need. Some might not have cash today but they can get what they want and pay later. They trust us to provide them with good products, so we trust them to settle payments too,'' said Pornthip.
Nusara Jirarattanatham, a local shopkeeper in Huay Khwang district, also offered some interesting thoughts.

''It's like an instinct that runs in the blood of cho huay shopkeepers. We must provide for our customers no matter what. If they ask for it, we have to do our best to have it in our store. At megastores manned by salaried employees, they don't care if one little product has run out of stock. But we do.''

Nusara said that in the past, hardware goods were the only things sold at her five-decade-old shop. But as more and more customers _ mostly construction workers _ came asking for items like flip flops, cooking utensils and toiletries, Nusara's mother quickly responded to their needs. Today, her one-unit shophouse store carries a bewildering selection_ everything from axes, hammers and electrician's tools to laundry powder, mosquito nets, mortars and kratip (bamboo containers for sticky rice).

''While a modern marketing class might teach you to better focus on one product, my mother, like other people of the old generation, believes that we should sell everything that's in demand. That's why my friends often joke that my shop has sakkabuea yan ruea rob [from pestles to battleships]. Indeed we have everything except the battleship,'' Nusara said with a smile.

She said that her family business has become so much busier with the flooding situation that she even dreamed about rubber boots, putty, duct tape and plastic sheets at night.

''Our shop opens every day, from 6:30am-8pm. Surprisingly, the busiest time of the day is early in the morning. We don't close on holidays because we know the customers need us no matter if it's a weekend or weekday, rain or shy, dry or flooded,'' said the young owner of the local hardware shop.

''It's obvious that small and musty village stores and sticky and slippery local markets that we had long forgotten are now coming to the rescue,'' said Suda, the housewife.

''Even though many markets have been flooded, their trading continues. Some are operating amid knee-level water _ with bus stops and motorcycle taxi pick-up points turned into boat piers,'' she added.

Meanwhile restaurateur Kanita, thoughtfully concluded, ''This has made me think about our future. If these local shops can't survive in today's capitalism, who's going to help us again in a future crisis?''


Empty shelves at modern retail facilities may be giving the public a false alarm. The truth is, food and building materials are still plentiful at local shops.