Welcome to Kantamanto-Accra’s famous ‘bend down boutique’

The Kantamanto Market, situated in the central business district of Accra, is Ghana’s largest second-hand clothes market.

A walk through the market shows a large number of traders in congested wooden stalls, selling their used clothes and footwear while calling out buyers to patronise their goods.

Other traders have stationed themselves on the pavements and the surrounding streets due to inadequate space in the market.

Just at the entrance of the market, other traders could be seen busy selecting the best clothes from a pile of clothing in a heap on the ground (this is how come it is also referred to as the ‘bend down boutique’ because a buyer would literally have to bend down in order to pick clothes of choice).

They can be heard shouting at the top of their voices “one cedi” “five cedis” “monyi no low, monhye no high’, to wit buy at a low price and wear for important occasions, to alert passersby to the prices of their items as a means of drawing customers to them.

History

The Kantamanto Market was built in the 1960s, where European exporters worked with local importers to move shipping containers full of bales of used clothing into the centre of Accra.

The local importers then worked with middlemen to sell individual bales to retailers, while retailers also engage tailors to alter some garments to fit consumers’ needs.

However, despite the congestion and numerous tragedies experienced by the market, scores of buyers continue to troop to the market due to the affordability and quality of clothing being sold there.

The traders believe the area is the perfect place to trade; the reason hundreds of buyers troop in every day to purchase their goods.

The market also now serves as a huge source for young people who go to the market very early in the morning to select the best clothes and bargain for a good price.

They then use social media to sell their clothes to corporate workers who may not be able to visit the Kantamanto Market to shop.

A trader, Kojo Acquah, explained that Kantamanto had been the preferred place for trading, therefore, moving to sell elsewhere would do them no good.

Buyers

Patrons such as Doreen Enning, told the Daily Graphic she buys from Kantamanto due to the affordability and quality of the items, adding that, even some boutiques in the city selected their wares from Kantamanto and sold them at higher prices.

She added that the struggle, congestion and hustle through the marketplace did not deter her from getting her clothes.
Another regular customer, Beatrice Osei, said she visited the marketplace at dawn in order to get the items which she described as store

rejects at affordable prices.

The views expressed attest to the fact that Kantamanto Market will always be the heart of trade, where both the young and old go to shop for clothes.