Phnom Penh dwellers looking for high-tech, high-ticket gizmos can find them at Parkway Square this weekend at the Food and Beverage Expo Retail 2000 that opened on Thursday.
Among the products on offer is a new line of water purifying equipment imported from Malaysia. The top-of-the-line reverse osmosis unit turns tap water into the “purest, purest” drinking water and dispenses it hot, cold or warm, said Patrick Chua, director of Sun Estate Cambodia, which manufactures the machine.
But at $490 a pop, Sun Estate hasn’t had many takers.
“We sold eight units here [last year],” Chua said, “mostly to [government] ministers.”
On Thursday, most expo-goers seemed more interested in looking than buying.
The star attraction was the Lynx, an electric-powered scooter manufactured in Singapore.
The bike runs like an ordinary moto, except it’s totally silent, doesn’t pollute and, instead of filling the tank, users plug it into an ordinary electric socket for six hours to recharge the two batteries.
“Very fantastic, eh?” said visitor Leng Buncheat after a free test ride through the crowded exhibition hall.
But the 22-year-old marketing director stalled at the bike’s $1,480 price tag.
“Maybe I’ll ask my parents to buy it,” he said.
Shoppers with a couple of thousand dollars to spare who are in urgent need of a rubber stamp can buy a Goldprint instant stamp-making machine.
The Singaporean product produces a rubber stamper from a computer-generated design in 10 minutes. Promoters hope to sell the $2,000 machines to retailers who will offer the service for about the same price as ordinary stamps, promoter Somm Manith said.
The expo is expected to draw about 10,000 people a day, event director Eric Lim said.
Last year’s event, Expo Khmer at Olympic Stadium, attracted more than 100,000 visitors in four days, but organizers scaled back plans for this year’s expo because Parkway couldn’t accommodate it.
“The biggest problem right now is that there is no suitable venue to hold exhibitions,” Lim said.
The event runs through Sunday. Admission is free.
