Singapore – January 18 to February 4 next year marks the annual Chinese New Year festive bazaar held in Chinatown. Stalls are now receiving bids for tenancy with one bid making headlines because it is 7.5 times more than the minimum bid of $1,850.
The reason for such a high amount is because the stall is considered to be “lucky”. Mr. Ye, having placed a total of $13,899 at stake was awarded the lucky stall this year. His initial bid was $8,399 but decided to gamble big this year and added another $5,500 making his total bid the highest in 6 years. Prodding his bold actions is the fact that Mr. Ye’s rival was said to be fully recovered from his sickness and is in good condition to continue the 10-year rivalry between the two. Each year, the two would battle it out on who will get the lucky stall with Mr. Ye losing on 2017 but winning in 2019.
This lucky stall is said to be located at the middle of Smith Street and Trengganu Street which acquires heavy foot traffic during the festivities.
Mr. Ye will be selling pomelos ranging from $6 to $12 dollars apiece depending on size at his lucky stall next year. Being the businessman that he is, he has also leased out the stall across the most expensive one for $5,000. This is his usual strategy which serves as a backup plan in case he was not able to win the bidding for the lucky stall. He will be selling Chinese sausages and snacks at the adjacent stall.
Confident of the profitability of the event, Mr. Ye has also rented out another 3 stalls to be managed by him and four other partners. Even though the operating costs and overhead of having 5 stalls would skyrocket, Mr. Ye, being a veteran at the event, knows just how lucrative owning a stall is during the bazaar.
Netizens are shocked at how high the price went up to, like the comment of Facebook user Manfred Man who is hoping Mr. Ye will get his ROI when the event is over. Others are wishing the man luck for his endeavours.
There will be a total of 313 stalls selling all sorts of food and other goods during the bazaar. The market will be open from 6 pm to 10:30 pm from January 18 to February 3 and will be extending until 1 am during its last day which is Chinese New Year’s Eve.