In a bid to establish Chanthaburi province an alternative center for buying and selling rubies and sapphires, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has commissioned architects to improve the mining town’s “shophouse rows,” says the provincial governor.
“Up to now, buyers don’t have the opportunity to fully take advantage of Chanthaburi since the stones are sold to Bangkok,” said Sompong Pansuwan.
“We’re trying to improve the town’s presentation, turning it into an attractive destination for traders, tourists and the family,” the governor added. He cited the removal of dark film on shop doors and windows, interior design, better lighting and a memorable educational tour from the gem mines to the retail stores.
Sompong said the largely ethnic Chinese gem merchants approved in principle the facelift but he expected gradual changes considering those people are known to have at will turned away prospective buyers at their iron-clad doors.
“When they see their competitors next door improving their shops and orders growing, they’ll want to do the same, if not to better their business rivals,” he said. “They’ll do anything that is perceived as good for business.”
The architects are expected to return soon with blueprints that would not involve costly demolitions, assured Sompong, who also added that many of the shophouses were already carpeted and air-conditioned.
He said wealthy shop owners were now more aware of the importance of the workplace and wanted their children to work there instead of sending them away to Bangkok to learn other trades.
“They’re trying to return pride to a profession that largely involves haggling and brokerage,” the governor said. He continued: “With acceptance that the improvements are good come an attitudinal change that is unprecedented in Chinese family businesses.”
At a glance, Chanthaburi’s success story starts at the mouth of the one-kilometer (half a mile) Siam Gem Street that in recent years has been closed for a day to vehicles to allow shoppers to weave through the traffic-free stretch.
For two and a half days a week —Fri-days, Saturday. And Sundays — buyers and traders wrangle over precious stones over rented tables and stools that are often replaced with leather-upholstered swivel chairs. With calculator in hand and tools of the trade on desk, the bargaining begins and ends. Bids are sealed in packets which hold the stones. Brokers scamper away only to return to make the sale or to let interested buyers know he clinched a better deal. Chanthaburi’s success also raises a problem Sompong said.
“With fewer finds and limited skilled craftsmen, Chanthaburi has to find ways to keep employed the thousands of families of diggers and cutters whose way of life has changed little over decades,” he concluded.