JEDDAH, 8 November 2004 — “How much weight did you gain in Ramadan and how much did you spend on Eid shopping?” These are the two questions almost everyone asks these last blessed days of Ramadan.
While Ramadan is supposed to be a month for prayer, reflection and coming closer to God, which we can see from the exponential numbers of worshippers in the holy mosques of Makkah and Madinah and all mosques especially in the last 10 days, there is this downside and unpleasant aspect of overconsumption that is associated with Ramadan.
“I made the mistake of postponing my Eid shopping to last week and I paid the price with my time and nerves,” said Samia Ali. “I was stuck for an hour the other day at one traffic light because of the congestion in front of a newly opened store. Everybody is out shopping now. You cannot go anywhere after Taraweeh without being stuck for hours just getting to where you want to go,” she told Arab News.
She shops at her usual stores because she knows what they have and she does not have the time to shop around due to the crowds. “I limited myself to a few items that I need for the first two days of Eid because after Eid everything goes on sale and are discounted 50 percent and more and that’s annoying.” The ads for stores and discounts are overwhelming for most shoppers. “If a place has a discount it becomes a war zone. I entered a store where things were on the floor and people were barely able to move,” said Samia. Discounts are not always attractive for her especially if the store is crowded because she is concerned more about quality and the prices should also be reasonable.
Another customer complained of traffic chaos. “There is no traffic regulations in some malls like Heraa, but City Plaza is much better,” said Hoda. The worst traffic she encountered was at Al-Haram Shopping Center which is a discount center. “Things here are very cheap and there were many Saudis from outside Jeddah shopping here and many foreigners,” she said.
Another thing that caught her attention was that some stores did not stop their business during prayer time, they just closed the doors with the customers inside continuing with their shopping. “The cashier lines are very long and even though the cashiers try to move things as fast as they can, it is very exhausting and confusing, especially since some customers are very rude and try to jump the line.”
With all these crowds, shoplifting is a major problem for many stores. A salesperson in a very popular clothing store said they have had several cases of theft despite putting security tags on the items. He also cautioned customers to be careful about their handbags because they already had 20 cases of stolen handbags or wallets since the start of the month.
Ramadan consumption is not a new thing. “Even in the old days, we shopped for Ramadan and Eid and prepared special foods but now there are more shopping places, more varieties and they are very crowded with people coming from all over the world,” said Um Ahmad.
Buying new clothes for Eid is a Sunnah (tradition set by the Prophet) so people especially children enjoy the experience even though they buy new things all year round unlike before when new clothes meant a special occasion, said Um Ahmad.
There are traditional foods associated with Ramadan and Eid. “The reason people gain weight now is because they are not active like before and they rely on maids and electric gadgets to do things. And don’t forget they spend all the time in front of television,” she added.
Due to the excess of waste during these last Ramadan days and Eid, the municipality has increased the number of street cleaners and coordinated with stores on collecting garbage. According to an official, the amount of waste in Ramadan increases from 3,500 tons in the regular days to 10,000 tons in Ramadan which requires additional manpower to handle.
