Small and retail businesses have resumed weekend commercial activity in Jeddah after panic and confusion in the wake of labor inspection raids.

Jeddah’s downtown area, known as “Balad,” the hub and heart of retail business in the city, is returning to normal after witnessing empty roads at weekends following the end of the grace period on Nov. 3.

Although there have been no inspection raids by authorities in the area, the downtown area’s retail business community feared such inspections.

Several Arab expatriate street vendors were back to selling their merchandise this Friday.

Most expatriate employees, particularly Yemenis and Bangladeshis in the area, are keen on regularizing their job status and have coughed up hefty amounts to middlemen and new sponsors to legalize their work status. However, many of them have been unable to complete formalities for various reasons.

Balad is a stronghold of Yemeni, Indian and Bangladeshi workers, with Bangladeshis dominating the scene.

Several shop owners said that business was back to near normal after nearly three weeks but that the volume of sales was still low compared to the pre-amnesty period.

Faisal Damudi, an executive whose business is located in Balad, told Arab News on Friday that retail business was gradually recovering in the area.

Activities in other business areas in the city, such as Souk Al-Najjar, Souk Al-Bawadi, Jamiah and Bab Makkah are also picking up gradually, sources said.