Senen vendors offer cheap clothes
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Forget shopping malls and traditional markets if you want to get a new shopping experience. There are alternative places for you to go.
Pay a visit to Senen market in Central Jakarta. When you get there, you will notice a group of street vendors in front of the Proyek Senen traditional market near the Matahari department store, just across from the Atrium Senen. The place looked busy, with about 100 vendors shouting offers for their goods to passersby.
Instead of ordinary merchandise, they sell secondhand but still high quality goods, mostly clothing and footwear. But some of them also offer toys, curtains and bags as well.
They display the goods just like you see them set out in temporary stalls. Each stall usually sells only one type of clothing, such as jackets, underwear, men's shirts and so forth.
Boy, a vendor of women's shirts, told The Jakarta Post over the weekend that the vendors bought their secondhand goods from an importer in the Tanjung Priok area, North Jakarta, who gets his supplies from Singapore, Korea, Taiwan and Japan.
"Don't worry about the quality. We sell only quality goods even though they are secondhand," he told the Post.
Once a week, Boy buys a sack of clothes. Each sack contains different types of garments. Therefore, Boy and his nephew have to sort them. Usually, they can only sell two third of the goods and dump the rest.
The vendors have to spend between Rp 1 million (about US$100) to Rp 2 million per sack, depending on the quality of the goods. Usually, one sack contains 100 items of clothing.
"Selling secondhand goods can be profitable. Consumers like them because they can get quality merchandise at low prices," said Amrin, Boy's colleague.
Amrin, who sells coats, admitted that he could earn a profit of between Rp 250,000 to Rp 500,000 for each sack he sold.
The goods are definitely inexpensive. For example, a baby shirt is sold for just Rp 500. You can also get three shirts for only Rp10,000. It's hard to find any garment costing more than Rp 10,000 a piece.
No wonder many people from around Greater Jakarta, mostly those on low incomes, visit the place, particularly now when they need to buy cheap but good quality clothes for the upcoming Idul Fitri, Christmas and New Year celebrations.
But if you think it's only appropriate for low-income people, think again. Surprisingly, many middle-class customers also enjoy buying from the street vendors.
"I like shopping here. I feel satisfied when I can get a quality shirt or jacket for only Rp 10,000," said Liza, an employee of a private company on Jl. Sudirman.
She claimed she had once bought a secondhand jacket with an original international brandname for only Rp 15,000. But to get good quality clothes, Liza advised shoppers to be patient and to compare prices.
"Don't underestimate this place. You will experience a new shopping environment here," said Liza.
You can examine the merchandise piece by piece to find a good quality shirt before deciding to buy. The vendors won't be offended if you choose not to purchase anything.
Boy said he understood that visitors had to check the quality of the goods as they were secondhand. "Please do so, we serve our consumers like we'd serve a king," he said.