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SINGAPORE – There will be no Chinese New Year Bazaar in Chinatown next year due to the ongoing pandemic.
The decision to stop the bazaar for the first time in its history was the result of concerns about crowd control, organizers said.
The Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng Citizens Advisory Committee also told the Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao that the organizers had considered other solutions but faced uncertainties about when the third phase of Singapore’s reopening would begin.
Chinatown shop owners, some of whom have been selling their wares for more than 15 years, were disappointed.
Jane Yee, 60, who owns a decoration shop near the Chinatown MRT station, told The Straits Times that she was “quite upset” when she heard the news.
He has no plans to sell his flashlights on the internet, due to stiff competition from wholesalers there. “We’re old now … we don’t know how to sell stuff online,” Ms. Yee said.
Others said the cancellation of the Chinese New Year bazaar comes after a difficult year for their businesses.
A store owner who wanted to be known only as Madame Neo said that the volume of products she had ordered before the Chinese New Year was the lowest in two decades.
“I do not anticipate crowds the size of previous years at all,” added the 60-year-old.
Since 1989, shoppers have flocked to the bazaar to buy Chinese New Year treats, spring couplets, and traditional Chinese garb.
The bazaar, which usually lasts three weeks, has been held on Pagoda, Smith, Temple and Trengganu streets.
In January this year, 329 stalls participated in the bazaar, which had had 900,000 visitors in good years.
Customer Tan Hoon, 65, will miss the market that she says is the “highlight of Chinatown during Chinese New Year.”
“The atmosphere will definitely be different … You really need to soak up the festive spirit in the market to feel like it’s Chinese New Year,” said Tan, who works at a travel agency.
ST has contacted the Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng Citizens Advisory Committee for comment.
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