The Geylang Serai Ramadan Bazaar is one of the most popular in Singapore, drawing in thousands of visitors every year during the holy month of Ramadan. However, it seems that not all stallholders are happy with their decision to take up stalls at the bazaar. According to some reports, many have been struggling with high rental costs, low foot traffic, and intense competition from other vendors. This has led to disappointment and frustration, as some stallholders regret taking up their stalls at the bazaar. In this article, we explore the difficulties facing stallholders at the Geylang Serai Ramadan Bazaar and examine the impact that these challenges are having on their businesses.
Ramadan bazaars are regarded as one of the most popular places for people who celebrate Ramadan in Singapore to spend their family’s night time, socialize, and break their fast with street food at dusk. As usual, Geylang Serai hosts the highly-anticipated bazaar, which started on the 17th of March and scheduled to conclude on the 21st of April 2023. The bazaar, which comprises hundreds of hawkers selling popular traditional dishes, has been the spotlights of some controversy recently.
The high cost of stall rentals and incidental costs incurred by organizers is evident in the prices of street food. While leases for one unit ranged from S$16,000 to S$19,000, with incidental costs ranging from S$30 to S$3,100 for utilities, water supply, fans, coolers, tables, and chairs, organizers, defend themselves, stating that the stall rents are “within market rental rates.”
Moreover, the organizer stated that they have incurred additional costs of over S$2.26 million in organizing the bazaar, including curating concept zones; adding over 1,000 dining seats and tables; and augmented security measures such as deploying more auxiliary police officers, closed-circuit televisions, and concrete blocks.
The bazaar is jointly organized by a consortium of S-Lite Event Support, TLK Trade Fair and Events, and Enniche Global Trading, with People’s Association (PA) being the main organizer of the event. The PA released a GeBiz tender for the organization of the bazaar, which the consortium won, at an award value of S$2.26 million. The total cost came up to nearly S$2.5 million, as the organizer stated.
However, despite these assurances by the organizer, CNA interviewed some of the stallholders who had grievances concerning the high rental costs. One kebab seller, Mr. Hasan, stated that “We’re all losing money. (We) cannot cover costs, cannot even cover rent. Over at the neighboring stall selling Ramly burgers, a worker echoed similar feelings.” Adding to this, another kebab seller, Mr. Essam Ezz, said he has to pay about S$30,000 to rent a stall, which is three times more than what he would pay at other night markets.
Furthermore, the owner of the Pasha Turkish Kebab stall at the bazaar reported that he was promised exclusivity to run a stall in the tent next to Onan Road if he paid $24,000. However, another kebab shop has appeared less than 50m from his stall. Prices for kebabs at both stalls start from S$5. The other kebab seller in the tent, The Botak BBQ & Grill, was also quoted a rental of $24,000 and told verbally that no other competitor would be there.
Additionally, other stalls selling similar items noted that they had not been informed that they could not sell their food; however, the organizers had threatened them not to do so. Furthermore, the agreement had no such conditions, so they continued to sell the items. In addition, nearly 30 per cent of the 700 stalls at the bazaar were earlier reported to be empty. However, an update in Wisma Geylang Serai later declared that the take-up rate is at 95% for food and beverage booths, and 80% for retail stalls.
Finally, two stallholders interviewed by CNA pointed out that the bazaar is going well for them due to their marketing efforts, using social media platforms and other forms of marketing to promote their stalls. MP Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, the grassroots adviser at Geylang Serai, announced on an Instagram post that more than 2 million visitors had visited the bazaar and stated that it was already on track to break a record of having the highest number of people coming to a Ramadan bazaar in Singapore.
