Often Phnom Penh shops selling the same type of goods are grouped near each other, even side-by-side on the street. It’s a convenience for shoppers who know they have a variety of goods to choose from, it provides competition and lower prices, and it’s good for the shop owners too because they know interested traffic will know where to find them.
One grouping of like businesses occurs on Nehru Street where a row of shops selling large electronic items and large appliances is located.
An oddity in this group of shops–it seems odd to me because I don’t see it elsewhere–is that every morning each of the shops builds a wall of appliance boxes out on the sidewalk in front of the shop, separating one shop from another.It may be that some of the boxes are empty, removed from appliances on display inside the shop, and moving them out to the sidewalk just gets them out of the way.The boxes are moved out of the shop every morning. This man, still in the towel he slept in, moves a large-screen TV box.When I pass by in the early morning and see the family moving the boxes, I can see most are empty, but the boxes still with the packing straps on them are full.I haven’t figured this one out yet. Every morning this little girl attaches a TV antenna to a pole in front of the store. I’m guessing since they’re selling TVs, they’re showing they also have the antennas.Most of the shops at the south end of the block deal in TVs and other electronic appliances. This one at the other end has washing machines, refrigerators, and other big appliances.
