All-available, all-cheap and all-traditional. This is the label given to Klitikan Market, which is located on Jl.Kyai Mojo, in Pekuncen, Yogyakarta.
The market was given the name Klitikan because in its early days, during the 1970s, the goods sold were used or secondhand goods, known as klitikan in Javanese language.
Klitikan Market offers various secondhand items, including antiques, trade tools, agricultural implements, electronics, clothing and cell phones, among others.
Although the price of items for sale in the market is lower than that found in the general market, the items sold are of good quality.
“I looked around to find an LPG tube. Outside the Klitikan Market the cost is between Rp 650,000 to 750,000. Here, I found one at Rp 550,000,” said Syaifullah, a visitor to the market.
“This tube is the same (quality) as the tube sold elsewhere,” he said.
Syaifullah said he found the Klitikan Market helpful as it offered various kinds of household implements, trade tools and garden tools, among other things.
“It’s one-stop shopping. You only have to come here and you can find all you need,” he said.
Aside from providing a variety of goods at lower prices, the Klitikan Market is also arranged in a very traditional way: There are over 600 vendors selling their goods on mats spread on the ground, just like vendors in traditional markets.
Despite its traditional arrangement, the Klitikan Market is not as dirty as other traditional markets; the stalls are neat and clean, and there are no pools of muddy water laying around.
One of the vendors that operates in the Klitikan Market, Bambang, said he did not have to pay sales tax, which is imposed in a modern market. Therefore, he said, he could sell his goods at lower prices.
“We are not subject to various taxes, so our selling prices are lower,” he said.
Bambang, who sells footwear in the market, said he could sell a pair of slippers valued at between Rp 20,000 to 30,000 in other markets, for Rp 15,000.
Antique lamps, kris, chinaware and other antique items, he said, were sold at prices ranging from Rp 50,000 to millions of rupiah, depending on the bargaining process between the vendor and the prospective buyer.
“If you want to buy good quality secondhand goods or brand-new items … both are available here, depending on your wishes,” Bambang said.
The Klitikan Market was once known as a thieves’ market, because many of the items traded there were stolen goods.
Before the Klitikan Market took up a permanent location on Jl. Kyai Mojo, vendors operated their businesses along roadsides, such as on Jl. Mangkubumi, in the south square of Yogyakarta City, and other places.
Following the 1997 monetary crisis, the Klitikan Market, which operates between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., was always crowded with visitors. It became an economic center and helped people increase their income. However, as the vendors sold their wares along the roadside, traffic in the area was often disturbed.
In an attempt to create orderliness and a traditional marketplace for vendors to sell their goods, hundreds of Klitikan Market vendors were pooled at one location. After relocation, which cost some Rp 4.7 billion, the vendors now occupy a two-floor market building measuring more than 6,000 square meters.
Head of the market management service of Yogyakarta City, Fadli, said that aside from creating an ideal city spatial layout design, the relocation of vendors was also intended to create a new tourism icon.
The development of the Klitikan Market, he said, was expected to generate economic activity in the city and have a multiplier effect for Yogyakarta.
Yogyakarta, Fadli said, has always been suitable for the development of traditional markets that sell the community’s cultural products. In this way, he added, the community could participate in the operation of the market, a phenomenon that cannot be found in a mall or hypermarket.
“A market like this will be able to attract tourists if it is developed well. The impact will be an increase in the income of the local community and the local administration,” Fadli said.
He used Yogyakarta’s Beringharjo Market, which is still a popular market for tourists visiting Yogyakarta, as an example of a well developed market.
To ensure the market remains attractive, vendors there voluntarily keep the market clean and maintain the quality of their goods. On certain days, they even don traditional Javanese attire.
A year after its establishment, the Klitikan Market has now become a special attraction for local people and tourists alike. Every day the market is crowded with visitors — even more so on holidays.
“The situation is better now. There are a lot of visitors. Many foreigners also visit here,” said martoyo, 56, who sells both secondhand and brand-new bicycle parts.
In terms of his income, Parjono, who previously sold his goods in the open air of Yogyakarta City’s southern square, said his income had not differed greatly. When he sold his goods on the roadside, he could make up to Rp 50,000 a day — today he earns the same amount operating in the Klitikan Market.
“Things are much better here because the vendors are pooled in one location so visitors can easily find them.
“In the past, we ran for shelter when it rained but it is not like that today,” said martoyo, who said he had been a Klitikan Market vendor for 13 years.
