The Pain of Tanah Abang Traders Ahead of Eid Al-Fitr Even though Covid Has Gone

Jakarta, Armfalcon.com —

Tanah Abang MarketCentral Jakarta, has always been a magnet for people who want to buy new clothes before Eid.

This market, which is located in the center of the capital city, is known as a center for selling textile products. Not surprisingly, buyers from neighboring countries also often shop at this place.

The excitement of the Tanah Abang Market was extinguished when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020 to 2021. Entering 2022, economic activity in this market will start to beat again.

However, his pulse was not yet beating fast. A number of traders claim that a week before Idul Fitri this year, there are relatively few buyers.

Based on Armfalcon.com.com monitoring, Monday (17/4) afternoon, Blok A Tanah Abang Market was quite busy. It’s just that, the crowd seemed to be in the stalls near the entrance.

In this area, merchants called out to everyone who passed by. “Have a look first, may I,”, “What are you looking for, ma’am?”, “Can you stop by for a discount,” These exclamations came from the mouths of one merchant and another.

There is no jostling that makes it difficult to walk.

Kiosks selling men’s and women’s Muslim clothing as well as religious equipment are the most popular with buyers.

When turning to the back area, the atmosphere is quiet. Not a few traders are unemployed. They just watch videos or make video calls to fill their free time.

Toriq (23), a koko clothing seller, complained that this year’s visitors were not as busy as last year.

“In my opinion, before Covid it was 90 percent busy, when Corona was 75, I think it was only 60 percent,” he said.

No doubt, Toriq admits that his turnover has fallen by half compared to when the pandemic was still hitting. He mentioned that in 2021-2022, ahead of Eid, his income could reach IDR 20 million per day. However, this year, to earn Rp. 10 million, he must try hard.

He suspected the lack of buyers this year could not be separated from declining purchasing power. According to him, during the pandemic, school activities were also implemented on lineso that public spending is reduced.

Meanwhile, now school is back to normal. Like it or not, expenses for shopping are reduced. Moreover, he said, many people are unemployed.

“In my opinion there is a conflict with the school, right? If during the corona yesterday there were no schools, the costs weren’t too much so the spending was also high,” he explained.

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