Weekly 5: Secondhand shopping in the city

Paper Edition | Page: 9

People buy secondhand goods for numerous reasons. They may want to live a more prudent life, or they may just like the musty smell of used goods, such as old books. Regardless of why, searching for secondhand items in Jakarta is like playing a game of treasure hunt. You have to be observant and persistent if you want to find bargains that are still in good condition. But once you find them, you may feel like you have just found hidden treasure. Here are some spots in the city where you can pretend to be Indiana Jones in search of hidden relics but without the booby traps. And don’t worry about dealing with banks or credit card companies in case you are afraid that you might abuse your credit cards, because most vendors at these spots do not accept them. And when visiting these places, you must not forget your bargaining skills. Happy hunting!

Pasar Poncol

While many people know about Senen market in Central Jakarta, which sells secondhand apparel, not many know of Poncol market, located next to Senen train station.

To find the market, you have to walk across the Senen railway tracks. Then, you will see some vendors selling used shoes beside the street. The fun begins once you step inside the alleyway, in the middle of the shoes vendors.

Hoards of used goods start to unravel before your eyes, ranging from used automotive spare parts to old video game consoles such as the Super Nintendo and the PlayStation. The market basically sells all things imaginable to the human race.

Pasar Baru

Make room in your closet before you go to Pasar Baru in Central Jakarta as you may find yourself coming home with bags full of vintage clothes, business suits, leather jackets and leather bags after visiting the market.

In order to get to this shopping haven, you have to go to the third floor of Pasar Atom building in Pasar Baru. What makes this place unique compared to other secondhand markets is that all the apparel being sold here is imported.

Here you can find clothes at dirt-cheap prices. A T-shirt, for example, is sold at prices as cheap as Rp 5,000 (53 cents). And if you are lucky, you may even find foreign brands that have not set up their own stores in Indonesia, such as Uniqlo, a famous Japanese clothing line.

Jl. Surabaya

Do you want to add more cultural diversity to your house? Maybe you want to put up some colorful paintings to make your walls less drab?

Those who feel the urge to makeover their homes may want to check Jl. Surabaya in Menteng, Central Jakarta. The street is lined with shops selling antiques from around the globe.

The vendors here sell Indonesian traditional accessories such as Balinese masks, Javanese puppets, kuda lumping (stick horses), as well as things from other countries such as Buddha statues from China and miniatures of windmills from Holland.

You can also find antique electronic appliances, even if some of the items may be obsolete, such as rotary dial telephones, typewriters, antique studio cameras and antique radios.

“Don’t be fooled by their appearances. These things still work,” a vendor of one antique shop said while turning on one of the antique radios.

Some shops also sell old vinyl records for music aficionados who want to hear what music sounded like before the ubiquitous auto-tune and waves of Korean pop took over the music industry.

Pasar Rumput

Located at the busy intersection of Jl. Dr. Sahardjo and Jl. Sultan Agung, Pasar Rumput in Manggarai, South Jakarta, is home to dozens of stores that sell used bathroom equipment like toilet bowls, wash basins and the occasional bathtub.

The idea of buying used latrines might not appeal to the hygiene-conscious among us. However, these used products have been scrubbed and polished to their original pristine
conditions.

Besides toilets, this market is also famous for being packed with vendors selling bicycles, both new and used. Some of the vendors even offer wheelchairs, crutches and oxygen tubes as well as baby strollers.

Pasar Jatinegara

Jatinegara in East Jakarta is known for boasting all kinds of markets, including ones of the specialized variety, such as a bird market and a gem stone market. So it is only natural for Jatinegara to have its own secondhand market, which is located on Jl. Jatinegara Timur III in Rawa Bunga subdistrict. The majority of goods at the market are household appliances, with prices ranging from Rp 2,000 (21 US cents) to Rp 500,000. —JP