Popular Kodok market born out of an accident

I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Kediri, Bali

It was a slow day for Pak Agung, owner of two make-shift stalls in the famous used clothes market of Pasar Kodok, 18 kilometers from Bali's capital of Denpasar.

His cheap, Japanese imitation wristwatch showed that it was 2:30 p.m., and so far, he had only managed to sell two items of clothing worth Rp 25,000 (around US$2.80).

The humidity and the burning sensation caused by the scorching sun's light slipped through the stores' openings. The man walked to a shady spot, protected from the heat by the shade of his displayed merchandise -- t-shirts, jeans and safari pants hung on wooden panels. He then poured out his heart.

"The business is so slow nowadays. Of course the market is still visited by a lot of people everyday, but most of them come only for sightseeing. There are less and less buyers each day," he said while adjusting his eyeglasses.

A father of five, the slender and timid Agung already had a clothes store in the downtown area of Tabanan city when, six months ago, he heard numerous stories of Javanese traders making big and quick profits on the city's southern outskirts by selling used clothes at Pasar Kodok.

He decided to open two new stores there.

Agung spent Rp 1.2 million to secure a year rent for the two plots, on which he later built his make-shift stores, from the local traditional customary village, which currently controlled the market. He then assigned his wife to manage his downtown store, while Agung personally and enthusiastically supervised the newly-opened stores at Pasar Kodok.

Yet, the business turned out to be not as good as he initially expected, and, now, Agung is worried that with the present level of selling he might not be able to cover the initial investment he made in the stores, let alone make a big profit.

"I am considering closing down one of my stores here to cut costs and avoid huge losses," he said.

Agung is just one among dozens of local Balinese, who, in the past year have tried to emulate the success' story of Pasar Kodok's pioneers, the Madurese traders.

By swarming into Pasar Kodok, building numerous new stores, which basically sold the same goods, these new occupants had unknowingly had the effect of tipping the balance between supply and demand, which for years had guaranteed a stable flow of income for the traders.

Today, with more than 700 traders, some even said that the number had reached 1,000 traders, had congested the two-hectares Pasar Kodok, the supply-and-demand balance was surely tipping in favor of the buyers.

"Perhaps, we have too many traders here, or, because we don't have enough varieties of goods, or maybe because there is a decrease in the buyers' spending power. We don't know yet the main reason behind the decline of our business," another trader, Prawoto said.

A native of Lamongan, East Java, Prawoto came to Bali in 1994 and worked at various construction sites in Bali's prime resort area of Nusa Dua before he moved to Pasar Kodok a year ago after his and his and his colleagues' make-shift shacks were demolished by the local authorities during an illegal housing operation.

"Here I can make an average of Rp 100,000 each day, which is sufficient for me to raise my two children, buy new merchandise and to save a little for my future."

Currently, Prawoto has five stores in the market's north third, where the traders were mostly from Lamongan, East Java. "I believe the local village is very aware about the 'too many traders' problem we are currently facing. The village recently has decided to put a halt on the development of any new store in the market," he said.

Pasar Kodok, located a hundred meters north of the Kediri to Tabanan provincial highway, has been known, mostly, for it's extremely cheap prices.

A female journalist recently visited the market, spent Rp 150,000 and went home with 15 items of apparel -- four t-shirts, four dresses, two male shirts, two pairs of jeans, two sports jackets and a v-necked embroidered tank-top.

"The jackets and suit cost Rp 12,500 each, the rest are all below Rp 10,000 each," she said, with a wide grin of satisfaction on her face.

Most of it's merchandise is imported used clothes, from Singapore and Malaysia, which made their way to Bali via Batam and Sumatra. One, who has the time and patience to thoroughly scrounge the market, might also bump into small quantities of new and branded clothes, including companies' reject goods.

The market's area can be roughly divided into thirds: The east and oldest area of the market where the stores belong to 300 traders of Madurese origin; the north third populated mostly by Javanese traders; and the south third, the newest area of the market where local Balinese traders are trying their luck in the used clothes business.

The official name of the market is Pasar Obral Besar (the Market of Big Sales), but it is well known as Pasar Kodok, which literally means frog market.

"This area used to be rice-fields, so it was quite natural that in it's early years the market was muddy, dirty, and was visited regularly by frogs," an old trader said.

One of the nine original traders of Pasar Kodok, H. Sami'an, a native of Sumenep, Madura, said the market's birth was an accident, instead of by deliberate design.

H. Sami'an and his relative have been living in the area since 1977. For years, they had made a living from producing and selling tempe (traditional fermented soybean cakes). In 1997 he began a small business selling used clothes and cheap textiles to Denpasar.

"One day, a brief shower wet our merchandise, so I decided to dry them in the nearby ricefield. It was a colorful display, indeed. A passerby noticed that there were various clothes on display in the ricefields. He approached me and asked whether the clothes were for sale. Naturally, I said 'yes, of course'."

The next day, H. Sami'an and eight of his friends stopped traveling to Denpasar to sell the clothes and built make-shift stores next to their houses instead. The stores marked the beginnings of Pasar Kodok, the present favorite shopping spot for budget-minded household mothers and teenagers from Denpasar, Badung and Tabanan.