It’s not every year that Deepavali conveniently falls on a Monday (Oct 20), making the weekend before it the perfect pocket of time to spruce up the house or make a quick run to the stores to stock up on festive essentials.
tabla! took to the iconic stretch of Serangoon Road in Little India to check out the hustle and bustle of the crowds and spoke with several local business owners about how the shoppers’ preferences have evolved over the years.
At around midday on Saturday (Oct 18), the Deepavali bazaar at Campbell Lane was packed to the brim. Even a seasoned Tetris player would find it a challenge to navigate the narrow alleyway, which was decked out in vibrant torans and ornaments from top to bottom.
At the entrance, located next to Tekka Centre, there was a “carpark” for prams and trolleys, as there was barely room to walk in the crowded street. All notions of personal space had to be set aside, but it was worth it.
The trail of stalls offered a one-stop shop for everything Deepavali-related and an immersive experience for visitors, mainly tourists, who were amazed by the maze of colours and music, as storekeepers blasted old-school Indian cinema tunes.
The stalls lined both sides of the street, barely an arm’s length apart. On one side, you could be picking out wall décor, while on the other, you might find yourself face-to-face with every variety of festive sparklers and firecrackers, to the envy of Indian children everywhere.
Situated towards the end of the bazaar, in front of the Indian Heritage Centre, is the Ajmir Store – a household name when it comes to festive sweets and savouries, like cookies and murukkus. The business has been around for more than 30 years and is a bazaar veteran.
“We’ve been at Campbell Lane for more than 20 years, but we took a five-year break after Covid-19. Now that we’re back, we’ve brought all our stocks here as we attend to about thousands of people daily,” said the owner of Ajmir Store, Mohamed Faisal, 44.
To meet the overwhelming demand, the store brought in over 300 varieties of cookies, which have since mostly sold out. “Now we’re down to about 40 varieties. The popular ones are gone, like the ondeh ondeh and Nutella tarts, the premium jam tarts made with Irish butter, and the Callebaut chocolate cookies,” Mr Faisal said.
“The full range is available for Deepavali only. A lot of people ask us for Christmas, but we’re unable to bring in so many varieties. Only the usual ones like the jam tarts, the makmur and sugee cookies will be available for other festive occasions,” he added.
When asked how the crowds have been at the bazaar over the past month, Mr Faisal replied: “I mean, it’s a Singaporean habit to do everything last minute, but we’ve had tremendous support from day one. A lot of people came down after seeing our posts on social media. Not just Indians, a lot of Malays, Filipinos, and even some Americans.”
“In fact, one guy came all the way from Penang to bring our murukku back home,” he added.
Due to the pandemic, the Ajmir Store started to sell its products online and share promotions on social media. However, the store is back to being “offline” as Mr Faisal prefers connecting with people and catching up with longtime patrons.
“It’s good to see the same customers back again, and people keep coming back because Campbell Lane is the main area for Deepavali shopping. You get your prayer goods, your clothes, your ornaments, and your cookies. You get to finish everything in one day and go home,” he noted.
Another bazaar that offers a similar experience is the one at Birch Road, near the Mustafa Centre. This bazaar is about the size of a basketball court, with even more stalls and a wider array of food and beverage options and a seating area for the weary shopper.
The stalls were aligned in a grid-like pattern, with more walkway space that allowed for a more leisurely pace while window shopping. However, the larger number of stalls and sensory overload of sights and sounds could also easily overstimulate the faint-hearted.
But those brave enough to haggle and take advantage of the discounts on festive wear and goodies that most stores would offer on the last weekend of the bazaar were in for a treat. A quick recce of the space showed many signs with prices slashed and store assistants announcing on loudspeakers, “Buy one, get one free!”
Mr Sweep Malik, 42, owner of Dishan Collections, a store selling Pakistani and Punjabi-style Indian ethnic wear for weddings and festive occasions like Deepavali, said, “Some people will wait till the last weekend for the sale. That’s why we are also doing more than 50 per cent off everything. One piece that we originally sold for $55, we are only selling for $25, and so it’s expected that the crowds will be larger.”
The family-run business has been around for more than 30 years and sets up shop exclusively at the bazaar. Customers who wish to look up or purchase from the store outside of the festive season can do so online via their Instagram account, Alesha Clozet SG.
The store used to carry more traditional design styles but has since refreshed its collections to meet customers’ demand for more modern styles and silhouettes. “In the past, Punjabi suits traditionally were the same, but people want change, something modern, as we have observed the last few years,” Mr Malik said.
This shift not only applies to clothes, but to other festive items like home decor as well.
“The designs we used to sell were a lot more traditional and rooted in devotional motifs, but customers prefer more modern, fusion styles, so we brought in more of that type,” said Mdm Kalai Arasi, 60, owner of S K Tradings, which operates a storefront outside the bazaar under the name Lata Music Centre Singapore.
“We used to sell Deepavali greeting cards, but ever since that went digital, fewer people bought cards over the years, so we expanded to home decor, sparklers, cookies and snacks during the festive season,” Mdm Kalai added.
She also noted that the crowds tend to arrive after Theemithi, the annual fire-walking festival, which usually takes place a week before Deepavali, corroborating other store owners’ observations that the final weekend is always the busiest.
Whether you’re an early bird or last-minute shopper, here’s to a Festival of Lights filled with joy, laughter and radiance – and we’d like to wish all tabla! readers a very Happy Deepavali!
