diff --git a/src/swsssdk/configdb.py b/src/swsssdk/configdb.py
index e255979aa..f2626f2d1 100644
--- a/src/swsssdk/configdb.py
+++ b/src/swsssdk/configdb.py
@@ -280,6 +280,8 @@ def get_config(self):
         keys = client.keys('*')
         data = {}
         for key in keys:
+            if PY3K:
+                key = key.decode('utf-8')
             try:
                 (table_name, row) = key.split(self.TABLE_NAME_SEPARATOR, 1)
                 entry = self.__raw_to_typed(client.hgetall(key))