BY JASMINE BADUN and GABRIEL LIHAN
KUCHING: Business particularly at the Metrocity N6 Youth Night Market here is slowly picking up with the onset of the fasting month of Ramadan and the country transitioning into the endemic phase.
Huge crowds have started patronising the night market located at Jalan Matang here particularly during the recent weekend.
Norizam Iskandar, a stall operator, said she feels very lucky to be able to sell at the night market, and that business has been brisk especially during the month of Ramadan.
“For the past two years, sales were not good. However, for this year’s Ramadan, I have had orders from as early as 2pm since April 2.
Norizam, who sells cakes for vendors, also sells her speciality ‘asam pedas’ and tom yam soup.
She has been selling at the night market for two years and hopes that business will continue to improve for her.
Meanwhile, Masiah, 47, who owns ‘Rosz Ikan Bakar’, a grilled fish stall, said she did not expect to have so many customers since there are bazaars at other places.
“The sale of grilled fish since the first day of fasting has been really good.More customers are buying and coming since Ramadan started compared to before Ramadan,” she said.
Masiah added for the first day of fasting, they managed to stop orders one hour before iftar due to the food selling out.
This year’s return of Ramadan bazaars has also a door of opportunity to new stall owners like 20-year-old Muhammad Syahaidil, who operates John’s Bread stall.
“It has been a week since I started selling and so far, sales have been so good, because we did not expect to get so many customers.”
When asked about how they feel about being able to participate as stall owners after two years of no Ramadan bazaars, he said: “I am happy, and the bread got sold out fast so we had to close the order (sooner).”
One of the bazaar visitors said she is grateful the Ramadan bazaars are back.
Aishah, 24, said the last time she visited a bazaar was two years ago, right before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Although the bazaar this time is quite different from the bazaar two or three years ago because there is a standard operating procedure (SOPs) that has been set and we have to adhere to it.
“Even though our country is now shifting into the endemic phase, we still have to be vigilant about COVID-19 that is still around us,” she added.
Another visitor to this night market said she missed going to Ramadan bazaars due to the pandemic.
“I can say that I only went to Ramadan bazaars less than five times last year because of the pandemic,” said 23-year-old Nur Ayu.
“I found that bazaars are no longer as fun as before the pandemic because there are not many stalls operating like the previous years.”
Towards this end she expressed her longing for the pre-pandemic Ramadan bazaar atmosphere.
Meanwhile, according to the night market chairperson Khairuzie Bolhassan, the night market is open every day from 2pm until midnight for food and beverage stalls.
The night market also sells clothes and other goods and these stalls start operating at 6pm until midnight.
