They blame the growth in malls for their declining sales.
“Because we have a lot of malls, everything is different concerning shopping for Eid,” said Mahmood Hamza Mahmood Amer, a downtown candy shop owner who runs a Ramadan candy stall.
“The new generation can buy clothes, candy and all their requirements in an air-conditioned facility and also leave their kids in amusement parks in the mall so they won’t be bothered while they shop. Also instead of coming to the Balad, some families seeking convenience opt to just shop for candy near their homes.”
Amer said he has been renting the space for the stall during the last 10 days of Ramadan for the last 45 years for SR1,500 and has always turned a good profit on the business except for the last few years.
“The only customers we usually sell to now are the older generation who like to come to the Balad during Ramadan to reminisce about when they were younger and lived in the area and spent Ramadan here,” Amer said.
He also said global prices and a lack of candy manufacturing in Saudi Arabia has caused price increases in candy in the Kingdom this year.
“Prices have increased because the prices of ingredients have increased,” Amer said. “For example, last year a 10 kg carton of pistachios cost SR560 but this year the price has increased to SR880.”
Such ingredients are used in Damascene sweets, which are particularly popular during Eid.
Amer said that he mainly imports his products from Kuwait, Syria, and Lebanon, saying that many Saudi candy shop owners have not been buying from Turkey as in the past due to the country’s insistence in doing business in euros.
