WET-MARKET traders are seeing fewer customers than before the movement-control order (MCO) as consumer patterns change, with more preferring the cleanliness of air-conditioned supermarkets or ease of online grocery shopping.

Wet markets received bad press at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia, with a few of them becoming outbreak clusters.

These included the Selayang wholesale market in Kuala Lumpur and the Jalan Othman and Taman Megah markets in Petaling Jaya. The Stutong wet market in Sarawak is the latest cluster.

The closure of some of these markets for more than 100 days during the MCO altered consumption patterns and traders doubt they will get back some of their usual pre-MCO customers.

At the Pudu market, considered the biggest and most historic wet market in Kuala Lumpur, Pudu Cheras Tiong Hua Hawkers and Traders Association president Ang Boon said the more than 700 stalls are seeing a 50% drop in business volume.

“Business was already difficult before the pandemic but now it is even harder.

“Even though the market has reopened, people are not coming to shop. They are going to hypermarkets instead,” Ang told The Malaysian Insight.

The authorities need to rethink the way wet markets operate or this traditional form of selling fresh produce may disappear, he said.

“The government should upgrade infrastructure and have better city planning so that the same goods sold in wet markets are not sold in nearby shops. Supermarkets should not be allowed in the same area as a wet market so that the livelihoods of these small traders will be protected.

“There are a few hundred stall owners in the market, each trying to earn a living but facing competition from big supermarkets nearby. How are they to earn a living?”

A fruit hawker at the Pudu market, who wanted to be known as Kow, said he was selling less than before the MCO.

Some traders in the market simply don’t bother reopening their stalls because of the low customer volume, he said.

Before the MCO, he could sell between RM1,000 and RM2,000 worth of fruits a day. Now, he only manages to sell RM300 a day.

“I think customers have grown used to shopping in supermarkets near their homes so that even though the Pudu market has reopened, they won’t come.

“People also prefer to order groceries online as you get vegetables, seafood and fruits. This is also impacting on us hawkers and traders.

“People like us cannot make the transition (to selling our fresh produce online). We have no other way of earning a living,” said Kow.

The situation is equally grim at pasar malam, which were allowed to reopen on June 15.

With a limited number of stalls, physical distancing and a one-way traffic flow for customers, crowds have been smaller and spending power lower, said traders.

Federation of Hawkers and Petty Traders Association Malaysia president Yow Boon Chuan said in Johor, 90% of pasar malam in the state reopened on June 22 after being given the green light but crowds decreased as time went by.

Yow said consumers’ spending power is only 40% to 50% of what it was before the MCO.

“This is partly due to the absence of Singapore shoppers now that the border is closed. So, vendors’ business has deteriorated.

“There’s also a decrease in spending power among Malaysians who work in Singapore. They earn in Singapore dollars and spend in ringgit. But with current economic problems because of Covid-19, it’s unclear if they can keep their jobs. So naturally, few people want to spend as freely as before,” said Yow.

The only stalls at pasar malam that do relatively well are those selling cooked food and produce, he added.

In Negri Sembilan, president of the state’s pasar malam hawkers’ and small traders’ association Lee Teong Chwee said pasar malam have adjusted their hours to suit new consumer habits of wanting to shop earlier.

“Before the MCO, pasar malam would start at 6pm and close at 10pm. Now vendors are opening earlier, some at 4pm and winding up by 9pm. After more than three months of movement restrictions, people seem to want to get their shopping done earlier and go home for the evening,” Lee said.

Like Yow, he also said the stalls selling cooked food are more popular and people shopped earlier so as to bring home dinner.

Toh Lai Huat, the executive adviser of Persatuan Penjaja-penjaja dan Peniaga-peniaga Kecil Petaling Jaya feels many of the usual pasar malam customers are staying away due to the standard operating procedures and concerns about safety.

“We hope that by end of the year, business can return to normal, although vendors are not that optimistic.” – July 30, 2020.