Thailand
Cambodia: First 7-Eleven draws crowds on opening day despite heavy rainfall
Cambodia’s first 7-Eleven convenience store attracted hundreds of customers on its opening day on Monday, causing queues to form in the remote location despite heavy and prolonged rain at times.
The shop is on National Route 6A, Prek Leab village, Prek Leap commune, Chroy Changva district, Phnom Penh, right outside the new borey Peng Huoth the Star Jumeirah security complex.
Patrons were generally locals and many were still lined up outside at 9pm, waiting for their turn to explore the Thai-imported stock without overstepping any Covid-19 restrictions.
The store’s goods all had prices similar to their already popular rival company, Circle K, in Cambodia.
The 7-Eleven store is open 24-hours a day but despite the steady stream of customers there was not a single muddy print and the windows were bright and clean.
The observed late-night customers were buying midnight snacks, noodles, soft drinks, next day’s lunch, lipstick imported from Thailand, cutlery and emergency sanitary products. The shop’s self-help section had noodle cups of all the most popular brands, sodas, slushies and instant coffees.
The manager of the 7-Eleven was brought in from Thailand, with all of his staff being Khmer employees, normally working three per shift. Collectively all staff spoke fluent Khmer, English, Mandarin and/or Thai. They were young and energetic, making sure to help every customer to the best of their abilities.
During the observed time, the staff didn’t have a moment of peace until 11.44pm, when the manager had a brief moment to speak to a Khmer Times reporter. He said he intends to provide all the same services as in Thailand 7-Elevens, including the banking services that the Thai stores started operating three years ago and utility bill payments.
The manager said supply chains are reliable, but the shop hasn’t fully settled in yet. Products such as cigarettes and alcohol were not in stock and not all services are provided currently. By midnight, the only things out of stock were the daily fresh goods such as steam buns and bread. The manager said the shop has reliable supply chains with half the stock acquired locally and the rest imported from Thailand.
The Cambodian master franchise was awarded to Thai stock exchange-listed (BKK:CPALL) CP All. It is the retail arm of Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group Co Ltd. CP All (Cambodia) Co Ltd and CP All (Laos) Co Ltd have each been granted franchising rights for 30 years to establish and operate 7-Eleven branches.
In Cambodia, 7-Eleven stores will compete with existing convenience stores such as local Smile Mini Marts and US-Canadian franchise Circle K, Kiwimart, Aeon MaxValu Express and Lucky Express.
The firm plans to open more stores in Phnom Penh.
There are more than 70,000 7-Eleven stores worldwide, with in excess of 12,000 of them in Southeast Asia. is possible to find several 7-Elevens within a very small radius in Bangkok.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50927061/first-7-eleven-draws-crowds-on-opening-day-despite-heavy-rainfall/