KARACHI: “I plan to switch trade,” says Sajid, a young moustached vegetables hawker from Bahawalpur as he pushes his cart through the lane in a Korangi area. “These bazaars have ruined our business. I’d better sell ice slabs these days.”

“Most people ask the rates on their way to the weekly bazaars and just move on,” says Rashid, apparently educated and well-behaved man with trimmed black beard and wearing an embroidered stiff cap in a shop well-stocked with fresh items. He also deals in chicken in a section of his shop with a couple of young helpers. “They compare our prices with that of the bazaars and buy there enough to last for another bazaar day. The biweekly bazaars keep our business down at least for two days.”

Zafar, selling vegetables in a rented shop in the same locality and being helped by an elder brother and a part-time worker, is however upbeat. “Yes, the bazaars do take away part of our business. But when there is no bazaar, we have encouraging business,” he says.

When asked why he thought the bazaars sold cheaply, he says: “Those people do not face accountability. The sell faulty items and the next day they are not there to receive complaints. We have to account for reach item. And people throw into our face when they go home and find something rotten or otherwise bad. We try our best to sort out bad things from good ones. While bazaar people mix things and manage to get away with the act of dishonesty.”

These bazaars are, of course, not just about vegetables. They competitively sell almost every household item.

A shopkeeper selling plastic slippers and sandals said he was going to shut his shop. “There is no profit here any longer. Bazaar people sell cheaply made items cheaply and customers rarely distinguish between the two similar items.”

The frustration of these greengrocers shows that the weekly bazaars are doing a good job for the populations around them. That’s why they attract buyers not only from the immediate neighbourhood but also from other localities.

On the other hand, Siddique, who earlier owned a yellow cab, is now the proud owner of a stall in the nearby weekly bazaar where he sells nothing but plastic slippers. He has already built a ground plus two storey house facing a park. Earlier he just had a pushcart and a scooter which helped him run his business, but now he has a hi-roof vehicle also. “Brother, all this is because of this slipper business,” says the beaming trader. “I hold stalls at a couple of places during the week. When there is no bazaar I drive to the Lighthouse market to replenish my stock. If still have time, I drive my van to take families on picnic or parties.”

The bazaars dotting the city, and increasing in their numbers and volume, offer almost everything of daily use at relatively cheap rates. People either trying to economise on their budgets or finding it convenient to do their shopping at the bazaars are growingly crowding these places. They are pulling additional crowds ahead of Ramazan. And then there will be Eid rush when these bazaars will run till Chaand Raat.

The biggest such weekly bazaar is probably the Sunday Bazaar in Defence Housing Authority. Spread over a vast area in Phase IIIV, it attracts the rich families in droves. Goods here have a larger variety, are of high quality and naturally expensive. And the traders are happy because the customers do not haggle much.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd , 2014