KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — Klang Valley has become a shopping haven, especially as we inch closer to Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
From stretches of food and fashion bazaars offering all the Aidilfitri essentials to Ramadan bazaars operating non-stop for over 100 hours, more than three non-stop Raya bazaars are bustling across Klang Valley this year.
Some of these non-stop Raya bazaars are already well-established names in Malaysia and are capable of drawing large crowds and exclusive vendors effortlessly, while the others are newcomers looking to make a name for themselves.
The appeal of these over 24-hour shopping festivals has also drawn more local brand owners to participate, especially those who wanted to test out physical sales after previously focusing on online sales.
SN Design founder Siti Nawwarah is looking for a change of pace for her modest fashion brand this year. — Picture by Raymond Manuel
A change of pace
Local modest fashion brand SN Design founder Siti Nawwarah, who is a vendor at Gerobok Biru Gegak Gempita Raya (GBGGR) 2025 at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur (WTCKL), said that although the crowd turnout was not up to her expectations, the buying power remained high.
The 23-year-old decided to focus more on physical stores this year after previously making most of her profits through online sales, especially on TikTok, and said it was definitely a change of pace.
“It’s definitely livelier when it comes to physical stores… previously, it was a bit hard for me when I was selling online as a lot of my customers had problems trying to compare their fabric with mine.
“But now, they are able to feel the materials and compare the colours for themselves. Some even brought along their own fabric to my store to compare the materials, while others did some mix and match. It’s really fun,” Siti told Malay Mail.
Siti, who rented out two booths at GBGGR from March 14 to March 24 for around RM4,500, revealed that she has already managed to cover back the renting cost along with some profits despite the low turnouts.
Pertiwi Clothing co-founder Muhammad Nor Adam Mohd Hamali. — Picture by Firdaus Latif
Rawang-based baju Melayu brand Pertiwi Clothing co-founder Muhammad Nor Adam Mohd Hamali joined the Selangor Havoc Raya Fest (SHRF) 2025 at the Setia City Convention Centre as a vendor, marking his first time participating in a non-stop Raya bazaar event.
Adam admitted that although there was a crowd, especially after the ‘berbuka’ (breaking fast) hours, vendors need to be creative in attracting visitors to their booths.
For Adam, his buy one free one promotion was his way to distinguish himself from other vendors.
The 26-year-old, who also previously made most of his profits by selling online, added that finding manpower to look over his booth at the 108-hour non-stop event has also been challenging.
“For this event, we would have three shifts with a total of four part-timers rotating through the shifts.
“Most of our part timers are university students and some are aunties — we were surprised that not many SPM graduates nowadays are interested in part-time jobs.
“Some of them complained about the salary, as we pay by the hour, but when we offer an incentive-based salary, some of them said it’s too hard for them. So yes, it is difficult to find part timers nowadays,” Adam said.
The Gerobok Biru Gegak Gempita Raya 2025 organiser Hafiidzzul Nizal Zulkhefli hopes to be one of the prominent Raya events in Malaysia. — Picture by Raymond Manuel
Aspire to be amongst the greats
GBGGR is a new name in the mega Raya festival scene in Malaysia with dreams of being amongst the more well-established names such as Absolut Bazaar or Mood Republik.
Which is why the organiser, Hafiidzzul Nizal Zulkhefli, thinks it was best to go big for its debut, which is by far the longest mega Raya festival held in KL this year that started from March 14 until March 24.
And GBGGR is also looking to set a new record for the longest exhibition held in the Malaysia Book of Records upon completing the total of 196 hours of running time.
Hafiidzzul explained that the reason behind their flashy debut was to beat the odds seeing that this is their first time organising a non-stop Raya bazaar at a location which also has its own dark history amongst local vendors.
This is of course referring to the infamous Hooray x Raya Fest in 2023 which was supposed to take place at WTCKL before it was cancelled at the eleventh hour by the organiser and has resulted in losses for traders who had signed up.
As WTCKL was once known as the top spot for non-stop Raya bazaars, the 45-year-old aims to bring back the good old days through GBGGR.
“The challenge for us now is how do we bring back WTCKL as a prominent Raya event venue in Klang Valley again.
Secondly, how to regain the trust of local traders so they feel confident signing up for an event at WTCKL, because when we approached some vendors for GBGGR, some were concerned about whether the event would take place, he said.
Hafiidzzul said that as this year was their debut, he has set a relatively low target of just wanting the whole event to proceed smoothly without hiccups and he already has some improvements in mind for next year.
This includes shorter operating hours during weekdays based on the low turnout during the day on weekdays this year.
He’s also grateful that GBGGR has managed to attract at least 80,000 shoppers during their time of operation.
Totally worth it
Malay Mail spoke to some of the vendors from one of the busiest non-stop Raya bazaars in Klang Valley, the Absolut Bazaar x Gaya Raya Festival (ABxGRF) 2025, which took place at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (Mitec).
Although the 66-hour run time is relatively short compared to other non-stop Raya bazaars this year, the ABxGRF being an already established name, had over 400 fashion retailers, including exclusive local brands operating across four halls, with shoppers coming in almost constantly even at odd hours.
Local actress and businesswoman Nazia Mustafa, who opened her own kuih raya booth at ABxGRF, said that she was shocked by the public reception at the Raya event.
“It’s just amazing, absolutely amazing. This is my first time joining Absolut Bazaar and I’m so impressed, I will definitely join again next year.
“I was surprised to see so many people at five to six in the morning — I was like ‘don’t you all want to go home?’
“And seeing some other group who would just hang around the hallways chit chatting really brings out the Malaysian Hari Raya vibes,” she said.
Nazia, who for the duration of the event, had only a couple hours of sleep per day, said that it was all worth it in the end, noting that vendors wouldn’t have to worry about their profit margins due to the high buying power there.
Meanwhile, sampin merchant Mohd Arifin Ikhsan, who had joined several of Abosolut Bazaar’s event previously, said that it was kind of a slow start for this year.
However, it picked up as they entered the weekend, with the last day seeing endless waves of crowds coming in until the early hours of March 24.
“We specialise in handmade sampin, with some imported from India, which are more affordable.
“We also offer premium ones, such as songket tenun from Terengganu, priced between RM500 and RM5,000.
“We’ve managed to sell a few of the RM5,000 ones and we’re left with only three pieces,” he said when met around 1am during the last day of ABxGRF.
The 41-year-old added that he would definitely join next year’s Raya event by Absolut Bazaar, despite the lower buying power from shoppers this year compared to his experience in previous years.
