Popular Kodok market born out of an accident

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.