Books
International Book Centre
A large barn-like bookshop concentrating mainly on textbooks and other educational works. Has a small classic literature collection. Also sells stationery, electronic devices, sporting goods and souvenirs.
D's Books
A chain of secondhand bookshops dealing mainly in mass market paperbacks. Uncommunicative, monosyllabic staff.
Boston Book Company
A secondhand bookshop that, as of October 2009, had just opened. Has a good collection of fiction and non-fiction works, including texts for teachers and students. Situated in an attractive building, it will eventually have a cafe.
The National Museum of Cambodia
Has a small selection of books on Cambodian archaeology, art, culture and history. Remember that money you spend at any Cambodian government-run institution will end up in officials' pockets.
Bohr's Books
A small store offering a large, diverse collection of books. Easy to find, it is only one block from the Royal Palace. A second store now operates in Street 172, 400m from Wat Unalom
Monument Books
Has the most extensive collection of new books in Phnom Penh, including fiction and non-fiction, children's books, non-English-language works in French and Khmer, for instance, magazines and newspapers. There is a particularly good collection of books from and about Cambodia, for instance, on Angkor Wat, the Khmer Rouge regime, and the history of Cambodia. Prices can be very high--often above the list price and can be purchased cheaper elsewhere in town. However, you can also get a good tea or coffee and cake there, if the serving staff are awake and it's a nice place to sip and read without being pestered. Monument Toys upstairs has a collection of children's toys and games. There is a branch of the bookshop at the airport.
Antiques and home decor
The Cambodia Antiquities Law 1996 bans the sale, purchase and export of Cambodian antiques, and since 1999 the United States has banned their import into that country. Consequently, most of the "antiques" sold in Cambodia are reproductions.
Hidden Treasures
#9 street 148, has antiques, art and curios from cambodia's past and nearby south-east asian cultures.
Handicrafts and souvenirs
Kravan House
#13 st. 178. has a wide range of cambodian silk products, including a wide range of ladies' handbags at a fraction of the price you would pay in a hotel gift shop.
Colors of Cambodia
373 sisowath quay. handicrafts from around the country.
Stef's Happy Painting
Sisowath quay near st. 178, directly under fcc, (http://happypainting.net). features brightly-colored fun and funky paintings of cambodian life - a welcome relief after visiting some of cambodia's more heart-breaking attractions.
Street 178, just north of the National Museum, is known as Artist Street and has many interesting boutiques.
Apple Macs
Cambodia is a cheap place to buy a Macbook, iPad or iPod. Prices are in US dollars at same or similar rates as in the USA but there is no added tax. Strangely iPhones are still not available here. By far the most expert Mac retailer and repairer is Uniyang (http://www.myuniyoung.com) near the Central Market.