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🛍️ Shopping

Phnom Penh for Shopping Lovers — 3 Days of Silk, Silver & Street Markets

From the art-deco dome of Central Market to Khmer silk weavers, riverside boutiques and NGO craft workshops

📍 Phnom Penh, Cambodia 📅 3-day itinerary

Phnom Penh's shopping runs from crumbling colonial market halls stacked with silver betel boxes to air-conditioned ateliers selling handwoven ikat. Bargain hard in Russian Market's tin-roofed alleys, then browse fair-trade silk studios on Street 240 where prices are fixed and artisans are named.

Local Markets & Artisan Shops

09:00
🛍️ Central Market (Phsar Thmey)

The 1937 art-deco cruciform hall with its 26m ochre dome sells silver jewellery, gemstones, watches and Khmer krama scarves. Open 07:00–18:00 daily. Silver betel-nut boxes run 15,000–60,000 riel; krama from 8,000 riel. The north wing is best for antiques.

⏱ 2-3 hours 💶 20,000–120,000 riel
Start your counter-offer at 40% of the asking price — vendors under the dome quote tourist rates roughly double the outer stalls.
12:00
🧵 Russian Market (Phsar Toul Tom Poung)

A low tin-roofed maze famous for factory-surplus clothing from Cambodia's garment plants — branded tees and dresses at 12,000–40,000 riel. Also silk scarves, Buddha carvings and DVDs. Open 06:00–17:00. The food stalls in the centre serve noodles from 6,000 riel.

⏱ 1.5 hours 💶 12,000–80,000 riel
Check garment labels for cut tags and stray stitching — genuine overruns have them, and vendors drop the price when you point them out.
14:30
🪡 Watthan Artisans Cambodia (WAC)

A workshop and showroom staffed by landmine survivors and disabled artisans, tucked beside Wat Than pagoda. Handwoven silk scarves, recycled-bomb-casing jewellery and rattan bags. Fixed prices, open 07:00–17:30 Mon–Sat. Weaving looms are visible at the back.

⏱ 2 hours 💶 40,000–200,000 riel
17:00
🌙 Phsar Kandal (Central Riverside Market)

A working neighbourhood market two blocks from the river where locals buy fabric by the metre, temple offerings, incense and enamelware. Almost no tourist pricing. Fabric from 10,000 riel/metre; tailors nearby stitch a shirt in 48 hours for about 60,000 riel.

⏱ 1.5 hours
Buy silk here by the metre and take it to a Street 178 tailor — you'll pay roughly half a boutique's price for a made-to-measure piece.

Boutiques & Design Districts

10:00
👗 Street 240 Boutique Strip

Phnom Penh's prettiest shopping street, lined with restored shophouses: Ambre (couturier Romyda Keth), Bliss, Keo Kjay and Sirivan. Expect contemporary Khmer-cut dresses, hand-block linens and ceramics. Most open 09:00–19:00. Dresses from 120,000 riel.

⏱ 2 hours 💶 80,000–600,000 riel
Come before noon — several ateliers close for a two-hour lunch and the shaded pavement is the only comfortable stretch in the midday heat.
13:00
🪔 Sra'Art / Friends 'N' Stuff

The retail arm of Mith Samlanh, funding street-youth training programmes. Recycled-material bags, quirky homeware, upcycled rice-sack purses and a small second-hand rail. Open 11:00–21:00 near Street 13, beside the Friends restaurant.

⏱ 1 hour
15:00
🎨 Romcheik 5 Artspace & Sammaki-style galleries, Street 178

Street 178 — 'Art Street' — runs beside the National Museum with framers, stone and bronze carvers and contemporary galleries. Reproduction Angkor sandstone heads from 100,000 riel; original canvases 200,000 riel upward. Most studios open 08:00–18:00.

⏱ 2 hours 💶 100,000–800,000 riel
18:00
🏬 Aeon Mall Phnom Penh (Sothearos)

Cambodia's flagship mall, opened 2014: four floors of international brands, a supermarket with Kampot pepper and palm sugar at fixed prices, plus an ice rink and cinema. Open 09:00–22:00. Good for air-conditioned browsing and duty-free-style gift buying.

The ground-floor supermarket sells vacuum-packed Kampot pepper and Kampong Speu palm sugar at a third of airport prices — best last-minute gift stop.

Souvenirs & Hidden Gems

09:30
🕯️ Artisans Angkor Boutique, Phnom Penh

The capital showroom of the Siem Reap social enterprise training rural artisans in lacquerware, silk painting, stone and wood carving. Certificates of origin with each piece; fixed prices. Lacquer bowls from 60,000 riel, silk paintings from 200,000 riel.

⏱ 2 hours 💶 60,000–500,000 riel
Ask for the artisan card that comes with carved pieces — it names the workshop and village, which matters if you're clearing customs with wood items.
12:30
Feel Good Café & Bookshop, Street 136

An independent café stocking Cambodian arabica from Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri, sold as whole bean, plus a shelf of Khmer history and photography titles. Beans around 40,000 riel per 250g. Open 07:00–18:00, air-conditioned and reliably quiet.

⏱ 1.5 hours
14:30
🧶 Silk Island (Koh Dach) Weaving Villages

A Mekong island 15km north reached by a 5-minute ferry from Prek Leap. Household looms weave golden Khmer silk; you can watch dyeing and buy direct. Scarves 40,000–120,000 riel, full ikat lengths from 300,000 riel. Ferry about 2,000 riel with a moto.

⏱ 2 hours 💶 40,000–300,000 riel
17:30
🌾 Sisters Handicraft / Sobbhana Boutique, Street 178

Sobbhana, founded by Princess Norodom Marie Ranariddh, trains women in traditional silk weaving; profits fund the foundation. Hand-loomed hol and pidan silks, scarves and cushion covers. Fixed prices, open 08:00–18:00 opposite the museum wall.

Hol silk is double-ikat and takes weeks per piece — if a 'silk' scarf costs under 25,000 riel anywhere in the city, it's polyester blend.

📍 Route map

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