JEDDAH: Downtown Jeddah is bustling with the annual post-Haj commercial boom caused by the influx of pilgrims.
Many pilgrims are on a shopping spree while others set up stalls to sell items they brought with them to help pay for their journey, and even take a little extra cash home with them.
The Balad (the historic downtown district of Jeddah) is a melting pot from the Islamic world. Asian pilgrims are clustered in the area near the Corniche Commercial Center. Africans tend to congregate in front of the Mahmal Center in the heart of the Balad and Bab Sharif.
Hundreds of thousands of foreign pilgrims come down to Jeddah to catch flights, ferries and long-haul buses back home after completion of Haj, which ended on Nov. 30. Many pilgrims, especially those from Indonesia and Iran, were also seen sight-seeing around the city.
Mingling among the vendors — Saudis, foreigners and pilgrims — are buyers from Southeast Asia to North Africa as well as Western Muslims from Europe and the Americas.
Asian pilgrims, still wearing their travel groups’ color-coded uniforms used to help find each other during Haj, can be seen buying Islamic-themed gifts, perfumes, beauty products, henna and prayer rugs.
Abu Abdu, a Yemeni who has been selling religious books and rugs for more than 45 years, said most of his customers are Tunisian, Indonesian, Pakistani and Egyptian.
“I sell the big picture rug for SR150, but the most in-demand item is the smaller size for SR12,” he said. “Some are buying in large quantities for business purposes to resell back home.”
Five- and 10-riyal shops in Bab Sharif were also bustling, with loudspeakers blaring the message loud and clear: “Everything for SR10!” “Please your child with SR10!” and “Please your wife with SR5!”
Vendors say African pilgrims top the list of customers buying gold, electronics, cosmetics, furniture and other products in bulk in order to re-sell these items back home.
The Gold Street at Bab Sharif has temporarily turned into a Little Khartoum or Little Nouakchott due to the sheer numbers of Mauritanian and Sudanese pilgrims. They were seen buying their traditional clothing for women known as “malhafas.” The materials here are made of higher quality than what they find back home, with fabrics from Kashmir and Japan.
Mohammad Jobran, a young trader who has been selling these materials along with his ancestors for over 40 years, said the Haj season is high season and his profits increase.
“Every Haj season we get to know new customers some of them look for wholesale outlets,” he said, adding that many of his customers are women from Mauritania, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen.
People, including locals, expatriates and African pilgrims, selling in the streets or from the backs of pick-up trucks also arrive in droves to compete with brick-and-mortar storefronts.
