Christmas market of Mahamasina: not as vibrant as in previous years

Though started a week ago, the official Christmas market of Mahamasina is still calm. In fact up to now vendors haven’t yet managed to attract many shoppers, thus resulting in the sales being stagnant. One secondhand clothes vendor even confessed that sometimes he “didn’t manage to sell even a single item in a day.”

According to some vendors, the Christmas market of this year is less vibrant than that of last year’s and the year before. And despite their numbers, 1300 stalls, and the quality of the products they are selling, shoppers seem to be less enthusiastic than before. The latter argue that the proliferation of illicit street vendors in popular areas like Analakely and Behoririka is the main reason for the official Christmas market of Mahamasina to lose a great number of its potential shoppers, thus resulting in significant decreases in sales.

Legal vendors of Mahamasina are complaining about the situation, describing it as unfair. In fact, while the latter had to pay taxes and rents to the Urban Commune of Antananarivo to be allowed to set up their stalls, illicit street vendors of Analakely and Behoririka don’t pay even a dime when selling their products which are far less expensive than those sold in Mahamasina. But in addition to stealing potential shoppers from legal vendors, illicit street vendors also create other different problems such as traffic jams, noise nuisance, non-respect of public order and security.