Makkah: Saudi Arabia’s retail gold merchants used to look forward to brisk sales during the annual Haj pilgrimage to Makkah but lingering economic hardships since the Arab Spring have left shops eerily empty this year, retailers said.
Traditionally, Arab visitors to the holy city generated the bulk of jewellery sales during the Haj period, buying necklaces, rings and bracelets as gifts to take home. But jewellery shops just outside the Grand Mosque were almost completely empty yesterday.
Salesman sipped tea and read newspapers behind their counters, but there were few customers to be seen. “This Haj season is even worse than last year,” said Abu Ali Al Sawaj, sales manager at Thabit Gold and Jewellery, a shop outside the Grand Mosque. “I would say sales are down around 20 percent, you see how empty the shop is it never used to be like this,” he added.
Gold retailers say that their main customers had long been Egyptians and Syrians, but the Arab Spring has changed that, with Asian customers starting to overtake Arab buyers.
“You would never expect to see the nationalities who are buyers now,” said Mohamed Abdel-Latif, salesman at Al-Saygh Jewellery. “I used to think that Afghanistan and Bangladesh were poor countries but they are the ones buying (gold) these days,” he added.
Abdel-Latif said Asian customers tended to want smaller items costing less and shops were looking to cater to their demand. “Its not about sales value anymore, its about volume, these new customers want small items with a low price and that’s what we’ve started producing,” he said.
Gold edged up 0.6 percent to $1,220.55 per ounce yesterday. In Makkah’s Grand Mosque gold market, retailers said prices of 21-carat metal stood at SR155 ($42.4) per gramme, almost on par with last year’s price of SR160.
Some retailers have lost hope of a full recovery in sales anytime soon and have considered switching their business.
“I miss the feeling of selling goods to people, you know that exchange of goods with cash, I’ve been a trader all my life and now I don’t feel like one,” said Walid Saleh, a Yemeni salesman at one of the gold stores. “People don’t have money now and like to buy cheap things, I might go work for a silver shop next year, the golden days are over my friend.” Reuters
