With traditional Omani dresses for both men and women dangling in every nook and corner at Friday Market in Wadi al Kabir, the whiff of air within emanated a feel of Eid.
With around two weeks left and hardly one more Friday to shop here, people began to rush from various wilayats across the capital and some from interior areas to get the best deal on clothes and household items necessary for the season.
"Truly, business this time is very good, with God's blessing. I brought men's clothes and musar (Omani turban) and Kumma (Omani cap) and they are in high demand," said Mohammed al Rudhaimi, a youth who works for a leading electronics store and does his part-time business here on Fridays.
Al Rudhaimi otherwise sells spare parts, batteries and other accessories of mobile phones but finds it even more lucrative to sell clothes on Fridays prior to Eid. "Why people prefer to buy from the Wadi al Kabir Friday Market is that they get a good bargaining without compromising on quality," Rudhaimi said.
The household division was equally buzzing with women folks inspecting the utensils, pots and pans and other kitchenwares necessary to be bought as part of pre Eid preparations. Most of the households discard the used kitchenwares and invest in decorating their kitchens with newer ones.
"I prefer to shop either in Souq Muttrah or Souq Juma (Friday Market) because, first of all, that has been the practice since the days of my father, and secondly, we have better say in prices than the big shopping malls," a lady who preferred to remain unidentified told the Observer.
There are nearly hundred shopkeepers, both small and big scale, predominantly Omanis inside the market which is enlivened every Friday. One can find a CEO of a company searching for a rare knob for his Murphy radio and a plumber looking for a pin for his drilling machine at the market. The market is unique in the sense that it has items in all forms, new, preloved, worn and torn and outdated pieces.
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