Deepavali bazaar vendors caught between rising costs, customers

Oct 15, 2024 03:09 pm

The Deepavali bazaar in Little India, just like the Ramadan bazaar in Geylang Serai and Chinese New Year bazaar in Chinatown, is the epicentre of preparations for the festivities.

But underneath the lively noise and bright colours surrounding the bazaar lies the struggle of vendors trying to make ends meet.

Bawas Delicacies owner Fatimah Beevi told Tamil Murasu that it has been a challenge trying to absorb the rise in the price of sugar.

Her stall, which has been selling Deepavali delicacies at the bazaar over the past 10 years, has an online shop.

Although it is much more cost-effective for her to sell her products online, she continues to open a stall at the bazaar to serve the housewives and senior citizens who prefer to shop in person.

"Our regular customers, especially the older ones, would grumble over price hikes, so I have to bear them in mind when pricing my products," said Ms Fatimah.

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Stallholders also cited the 30-40 per cent increase in logistics fees as another contributing factor to the rising costs and lamented the lower footfall this year.

Mr Jay Prakash, who has been running a textiles store at Birch Road for 27 years, lamented: "We used to be busy at 2pm, when business would be brisk. These days, even by 4pm, we don't have much to do."

He claimed that the number of customers have fallen from 3,000 to 4,000 per day to just 300.

Little India Shopkeeper's Heritage Association (Lisha) chairman Regunarth Siva said stall rental was reduced by up to 20 per cent this year to help vendors cope with rising costs.

Mr Danesh Kumar, who was spotted at shopping at the bazaar, said he did not mind splurging for the festivities.

Not sharing his sentiments was Ms Daisy. "I buy sweets for many people, so I am forced to pick cheaper alternatives since I cannot reduce the amount I buy."

Another option for economical shoppers seems to be a trip across the Causeway.

Mr Chandran Krishnan, who owns a jewellery shop in Johor Bahru, said: "Three in four of our customers are Singaporeans. We expect more Singaporeans to shop here for Deepavali."