The renovated Red Market, officially known as Almirante Lacerda Market, resumed business yesterday, and many people shopped there in the morning, with both consumers and stall owners pointing out that while the wet market used to be very dirty and hot, after its complete revamp, it has become beautiful, neat and well air-conditioned.
The re-opening ceremony of the Red Market was held yesterday morning, during which Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) President José Fonseca Tavares delivered a speech, saying that nearly 120 stalls – selling vegetables, seafood, pork, beef, chilled food, groceries, tofu and bean sprouts as well as frozen meat – were smoothly relocated back to the Red Market from a temporary wet market building located near the high-rise Patane Market Municipal Complex, adding that the bureau will, in conjunction with the stallholders, provide consumers with a comfortable and clean shopping experience offering more and better quality food supplies and services at affordable prices, together creating a new market image.
The Red Market, which has been in use for more than 80 years, commenced its renovation works in May 2022, when it was temporarily closed. Under the premise of striking a balance between conservation and market enhancement, according to an IAM statement yesterday, the facilities and equipment inside the stalls have been reconfigured, including enhanced power supply and the installation of waterproof plugs and lighting, as well as an upgraded drainage system and the installation of reinforced glass panes in front of the seafood stalls’ sales counters to avoid the splashing of water onto the floor.
The renovations, the statement added, included the reconstruction of some of the structural columns and floor slabs to increase the durability and load-bearing capacity of the building, as well as the replacement of its wall and floor tiles, refurbishment of ceilings, reconstruction of drainage networks, optimisation of its entrances, passageways and the spatial layout of its stalls, as well as both the stalls’ hardware and software facilities and the market’s lighting system, in addition to its enlarged WC space and higher ratio of female to male toilet cubicles.
The heritage-listed Red Market Building, which opened in 1936 selling vegetables and other fresh food supplies, nowadays is a three-storey red brick building with a turret clock in the centre. The building, symmetrical in layout, is a typical example of modern architecture, according to the Cultural Heritage of Macao website.
“In the old days, there was no air-conditioning in the Red Market so in the summer it was hot and miserable,” a vegetable stall owner, surnamed Wong, told the Post yesterday, adding that the environment of the market has been improved and business has increased “significantly” compared to that at the temporary market. Having operated a stall in the Red Market for nearly 40 years, Wong said she was happy being able to meet her old customers again: “The temporary market was too far away, many old customers didn’t go there”.
Running their seafood stall at the Red Market for more than 40 years, a father and son, surnamed Chan, have experienced the market from its first renovation decades ago to its latest revamp. Speaking to the Post yesterday, the son said he expected at least a “couple of days” of good business in general, with an increase of nearly 90 percent compared to that at the temporary market. Chan junior also said that “even though our stall is a bit smaller than our old one, but overall, it’s pretty good”, adding that during the two years at the temporary market, almost every day was a loss-making affair, and the flow of people was low.
Chan junior also said that he was confident that the return of his old customers would benefit his business.
Apart from the stall owners in the market, the fruit stalls outside the market have also expressed happiness about its long-awaited re-opening. Lam, who owns a fruit stall outside the Red Market, expressed her delight at the market’s reopening, saying that in the two years since the commencement of the market’s renovation project, the business of her stall had been significantly reduced, adding she expected the reopening of the market to boost her business.
There were originally 184 stalls in the Red Market, with 154 stalls operating before the renovation, and there are now 149 stalls, not all of which are yet operating. Leong Cheok Man, who heads the IAM Hygiene Inspection Department, told the media on Wednesday that 118 stall owners had signed contracts with the bureau to confirm their return to the Red Market.
A number of vegetable, poultry meat, grocery and seafood stalls started business yesterday, most of which offer electronic payment methods.
Yesterday was the first day of resumption of business, and many residents living nearby came shopping in the morning, and one said she even came all the way from Taipa to visit her old friends there.
One of the residents, surnamed Kwong, said that during the renovation works of the Red Market, she could only buy food from the temporary market, which was quite a long distance away from her home, adding that the re-opening of the Red Market would “surely” be convenient for her to buy her provisions.
Lao, who travelled from Taipa to the Red Market, said that compared to other wet markets such as the São Domingos Municipal Market Complex, the Red Market brings her more warmth.
Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) President José Fonseca Tavares (centre), accompanied by his staff, inspects the newly revamped Red Market after yesterday morning’s re-opening ceremony.
The Red Market celebrates its yesterday’s reopening with a traditional blessing ceremony.
A vegetable stall owner surnamed Wong (up) and seafood stall owner surnamed Chan are happily serving their customers again at the “beautifully” renovated Red Market yesterday. – Photos: Yuki Lei
