Last Updated on 2023-04-12 , 9:48 am
You may have heard some not-so-good news regarding the Geylang Serai Ramadan bazaar. It is now common knowledge that the rent there is crazy expensive.
However, despite recent controversies surrounding the bazaar, it is as popular as ever.
This year’s number of visitors is set to hit a record high, and over 2 million people have visited the bazaar within 18 days of its operations.
High Visitorship
According to a Facebook post uploaded by Minister of State for Home Affairs and National Development Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim on Tuesday (4 April), the crowd at the bazaar seems promising.
Mr Faishal said he was “heartened to see the big crowd” regardless of the time of the day.
The post, uploaded on the 18th day of the bazaar’s operations, which is its halfway mark, announced that the number of visitors had surpassed 2 million.
“We are already on set to be on record of having the largest number of people coming to a Ramadan bazaar in Singapore.”
In addition, contrary to previous reports of stall owners’ concerns about breaking even, Mr Faishal said that “many of the businesses are doing very well.”
“Some have even covered their rental cost after a week,” he added.
Previously, some vendors have noted a fall in the number of visitors.
Nenda’s Fritters manager Mr Muhd Ridzuan Senin said queues for Ramly burgers had shortened this year despite lines usually being long in previous years.
Marred by High Rent
When the bazaar opened on 17 March, 20% of its stalls were unoccupied.
In an interview with CNA, the owner of The Original Vadai, Mr Stephen Suriyah said that the leading cause behind why many stalls were empty was the high rental rates.
The rental this year stands among the highest in recent years.
Mr Suriyah had to increase the price of his items by 10 cents to break even.
In response to this issue, the organisers of the bazaar created a plan to encourage businesses that could not afford the rent to set up shop.
The plan entails vendors giving the organisers a percentage of their sales instead of paying the total rent.
It’s promising to hear from Mr Faishal that many of the stalls at the bazaar are gaining traction, although the high rental rates were the pinnacle of the problems faced at the bazaar this year.
The Exclusivity Drama
One of the most notable controversies surrounding this year’s bazaar involves two kebab stall owners whom the organisers supposedly guaranteed exclusivity.
The owners of Pasha Turkish Kebab and The Botak BBQ and Grill were told that they would be running the only kebab stalls in their vicinity if they paid rent of $24,000.
However, the two stalls emerged about 50 metres apart.
Mr Amr Elgoharoi, the owner of Pasha Turkish Kebab, said that he only agreed to pay that much since he was granted exclusivity but is now worried that he cannot recoup the losses.
On Tuesday (4 April), the organisers clarified that while kebab and Ramly burger stalls are meant to be exclusive, there could be more than one of them in one zone, but the booths must be spread out.
They said this information would have been brought forward to the vendors already.
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