Here you go: Sures (right) attending to a customer at his stall at the Deepavali bazaar in Johor Baru. — THOMAS YONG/The Star
JOHOR BARU: Local traders at the Deepavali bazaar in Jalan Ungku Puan are hoping to see a boom in sales with the Festival of Lights nearing.
The traders, who have opened up their stalls since Oct 11, said that they have yet to see a significant influx in customers despite the strength of the Singapore dollar against the ringgit.
S. Sures, 51, said that he was expecting a large crowd at the bazaar this year with the pandemic now a thing of the past and the strong rate of Singapore dollar.
“The currency exchange plays a huge role as it is a good pull factor for our Singaporean customers or those working there to shop here.
“Unfortunately, that has not been the case this time. We have been operating our stalls for about three weeks now but so far, we have yet to see the large crowd we have all been waiting for.
“The crowd this year is even smaller than the ones we had in the past two years and definitely far from pre-pandemic level,” said Sures, who sells clothes.
He added that among the factors that may have affected the sales at the bazaar here is the presence of large expos that are offering Deepavali goods at prices that local traders could not compete with.
“The expos are held at malls by organisers from other states. They brought in traders from other countries who can offer goods at cheaper prices,” he said, adding that it was an unfair competition for local traders.
Biscuit trader V. Sumathi, 49, said she believes that the crowd will grow this weekend and as Deepavali draws closer.
“It is disheartening to see such a small crowd this year, especially as we have spent so much preparing for the Deepavali bazaar.
“However, I believe that things will eventually get better as we get closer to Deepavali. On top of that, there will also be a lot of discounts and deals in the last few days before the festival, which will help to boost the number of customers here,” she said.
Meanwhile, trader K. Prakash, 47, attributes the extreme weather, coupled with the hopes to get last-minute deals, as part of the reasons for people do their Deepavali shopping at the very last minute.
“We are now either seeing extremely hot days or very heavy rain, nothing in between.
“I believe this is also a contributing factor as the bazaar is outdoor. However, they will eventually still do their shopping when the festival comes close.
“Many are also waiting for the last few days to do their shopping as that is when they could enjoy all kinds of discounts,” he said.
