Stall holders in the annual Chinese New Year (CNY) market told The Macau Post Daily yesterday that their business in the first few days has “not been as good as expected”.
As in previous years, the CNY market operates in the run-up to the Chinese New Year, i.e., from the 23rd day to the last day of the lunar calendar’s last month, in Praça do Tap Seac.
The market, which started last Saturday, opens daily from 10 a.m. to midnight through Friday, but this coming Saturday, Chinese New Year’s Eve, is will be open from 10 a.m. till 2 a.m. on Sunday.
Rabbits everywhere
In celebration of the Year of the Rabbit, rabbit-themed ornaments and decorations are everywhere at the market. Looking around the CNY market, The Macau Post Daily found that the most common products were all kinds of plush toys in the shape of rabbits.
A female university student surnamed Chan, who runs one of the stalls, pointed out that she and some of her classmates set up the stall together for the first time, focusing on “creative” new year decorations.
“We think that the Year of the Rabbit is a very good year, as rabbits are furry animals and rabbit toys are popular with children,” said Chan, adding that their product line is “cute and cosy”, hoping to bring warm memories for families who come to the market.
However, the male owner of another cultural and creative product stall, surnamed Chan, who is also the president of the Business Club of the Macao Institute for Tourism Studies (IFTM), expressed a different opinion.
Chan said he thought that almost all stalls at the market sell rabbit toys, so in order to attract customers, he and his team have decided to put more effort into their own cultural and creative products, using buzzwords and Macau-related attractions to create a lot of “pop-up” products.
However, Chan said he felt that his stall is still overstocked with rabbit figurines: “I think our cultural and creative products are more sustainable as they are not only for the new year, but can also be appreciated for a longer period of time,” he said.
‘Rather high prices’
A female resident surnamed Hong, a mother of twin daughters, who was at the CNY market to feel the atmosphere of the upcoming Chinese New Year, said she felt that the prices of the products sold in the market are generally “rather high”.
Hong said she did not intend to buy any new year’s items at the market, “mainly because of the prices”, even though she found the products to be quite attractive.
However, a stall owner surnamed Tang, who has been selling flowers for more than 20 years, insisted that her stall is price-friendly. She pointed out that she created some new year decorations to attach to the flower to attract more customers.
It is a traditional Chinese custom to buy Lunar New Year’s flowers. Tang said she hoped to sell out before the Chinese New Year, adding that after years of selling flowers, customers recognised her now.
“That’s why we always introduce different products to give customers a sense of freshness”, said Tang, so that customers could come to the stall as if they were on a “treasure hunt”.
Her flower stall is not the only one that uses the tactic of offering lower prices. Lou, one of the people in charge of a cooked food stall, said that the sudden change in weather and the drop in temperature this week had reduced the number of people visiting the market, so her team had lowered its prices in order to “recoup the investment”.
“The business has not been as good as expected”, Lou said, adding that she was, however, confident that her stall would be able to recover her investment by the end of this year’s CNY market.
Creative ideas to attract buyers
A vendor surnamed Ngan, who runs a stall selling handwritten CNY scrolls, said his team had created a number of creative CNY messages and presented them in the style of traditional calligraphy, which was different to the printed CNY scrolls in conventional shops.
“The CNY market is a good opportunity for us to turn the art of calligraphy into a commercially viable product in Macau,” Ngan said.
“Do you know what ‘彎的福’ means?”, Ngan asked. In Putonghua, these three characters are pronounced as “Wan De Fu”, which is the approximation of the English word ‘wonderful’,” Ngan said, as he displayed a handwritten CNY couplet from his booth.
However, Ngan said that although there was a noticeable increase in the city’s CNY atmosphere this time, and many tourists were visiting the market, he noticed that customers did not have a strong desire to spend money.
“After all, as the novel coronavirus pandemic subsides, I have confidence in the overall business situation in the near future.”
This combination of photos taken yesterday shows stalls selling festive products at the Chinese New Year market in Praça do Tap Seac. – Photo: Ginnie Liang
