“It has been a good 10 years selling things at Sungei Road,” said Mr Kim Sung, a merchant.

Since the 1930s, Sungei Road is well known for the thieves market. The name had two meanings – Illegal and cheap. In the early times, the goods sold were collected through illegal methods and thus the goods were unsurprisingly cheap.

Till this date, businesses at Sungei Road have been thriving with visitors from all parts of Singapore, especially with tourists. On weekends, the crowd at Sungei Road is still extraordinary, although the prices are much higher than before. Merchant Sung explains the reason to the inflation of prices may be due to the increasing amount of merchants that have emerged over the years. “Right now, we have over 50 competitors and it is harder to do sales,” Merchant Sung explained.

“To be honest, I earn about slightly more than $60 on weekdays and $100 odd on weekends.” Said Mr Kim Sung. Comparing his sales to the previous years, he added that earnings have dropped by at least 20%.

Merchant Sung deals mainly with electronics, mostly handphones, travel chargers and handphone accessories. He acquires the goods from Hougang and mostly purchases it wholesale such that he can obtain a higher profit margin. “The easiest item to sell in the market would be clothes, but it does not allow me to earn much,” said Merchant Sung. He further adds that selling goods at Sungei Road requires some form of luck and flexible communication styles to varied visitors. As such, he places a good luck charm together with his goods as he truly believes it will bring him good fortune.

Madam Lee Hwee Say, a visitor commented that she visits Sungei Road monthly to search for good deals with her family. Madam Lee feels that most of the things are reasonably priced and she enjoys the thrill of bargaining with the merchants. “Most of the time when I’m unsure of the prices, I will make one trip through all the shops and find the cheapest,” said Madam Lee. She added that the prices have indeed gone up especially for the electronic goods such as handphone accessories.

“In the 60s and the 70s, the Malaysians frequent our stalls mostly for our affordable prices,” said Merchant Sung. At present, the visitors vary from China, India, Thailand, Bangladesh and others.

Unlike Sungei Road’s hey days, the merchants now seldom call out to potential customers and at times, surprisingly they would rudely turn away customers. Merchants are generally handling the business smarter now due to the competition that has arisen over the years. Merchant Sung shared his theory of offering the best price possible and to keep to that. He further explains that with his honesty, customer’s trust is gained and after exploring the other stalls, they will infer that Merchant Sung’s prices are better and will eventually return to purchase the goods from him.

Overall, the landscape of Sungei Road has not changed, the goods sold vary, and depending on the overall market condition, it definitely has a healthy growth although the prices have increased evidently.