JEDDAH: With most of the offices and establishments resuming work after the weeklong Eid Al-Fitr holiday yesterday, the city was returning to normal. Malls and traditional souqs are once again open in full force, although the peak period of Ramadan sales is over. Normal traffic was being witnessed all over the city, with some of the known bottlenecks along the main arteries creating familiar congestions.
Inquiries with shops and malls have evoked mixed reactions with regard to Ramadan sales.
“Although people’s purchasing capacity has increased, it did not reflect as much in our sales,” Abdul Rahman Marzuki, a carpet dealer, said in the downtown Afghan souk. “Usually, Saudis buy new carpets during Ramadan, but this time we did not see the kind of turnover that we witnessed in previous years.”
Some of the dealers had offered as much as 70-percent discount on Turkish and Belgian machine-made carpets, but to no avail, he said.
However, those dealing in textiles and readymade dresses had a different opinion.
“Our sales peaked during the week prior to Eid Al-Fitr and we are satisfied with the 15 to 20 percent jump we recorded this season,” Ibrahim Al-Johani, a textile dealer in downtown Balad, said.
“Saudis are known to be great spenders, especially during Ramadan, and they did spend on new dresses for their children.”
Similar was the reaction of some gold shop vendors who said that they had satisfactory sales of gold and jewelry during the season despite the rise in prices.
“I did all my gold and jewelry shopping during Ramadan, as I had to prepare for my daughter’s wedding,” said Sara Afzal, a Pakistani housewife.
“I had saved money for the whole year and was looking forward to the holy month to make my gold purchases.”
The cost of 22-carat gold had risen to around SR100 per gram and that of 21 carat to about SR94. The latter is not popular among residents. Jewelry for children, especially bangles and pendants, were very much in demand for the festive period, a gold dealer at Kandara souk said.
Those dealing in gift articles reacted positively about Ramadan sales.
“Our sales peaked a few days before Eid. However, they were not to the extent we had expected,” said Sultan Hafiz, a gift shop attendant at Bani Malek.
Inquiries show that there were two major reasons that made a big difference for Ramadan sales this time. First, there has been an all-round price increase and, secondly, new shops and malls are mushrooming by the day. “Naturally, some shops and malls will be affected despite an increase in overall turnover,” Faisal Nazer, a shop attendant at the Jamjoom Commercial Center, said. “There are so many shops and so many malls, and so some will do well and some will not,” he added.
Food outlets too had mixed reactions. They said rising food prices impacted the sales and people preferred to manage with inexpensive food items. In fact, Ramadan is the month when dealers in food and foodstuffs mark at least a 30 percent jump in their turnover.
“But this time, housewives seemed to be more careful while planning their budgets,” a supervisor at Al-Raya Supermarket said.
