Tasty delights: Customers choosing from a variety of traditional baked biscuits and buns at a shop in Jalan Tan Hiok Nee, Johor Baru. — THOMAS YONG/The Star
JOHOR BARU: After enjoying brisk sales during the recent Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Labour Day public holidays, businesses in downtown Johor Baru are ready for another long weekend.
The four-day weekend, which started with Wesak Day yesterday until Sunday, comes hot on the heels of the May 1 Labour Day long weekend and Hari Raya Aidilfitri break beginning April 22.
The traders are expecting busy days ahead because in Johor, rest days for government agencies and schools fall on Friday and Saturday while the private sector observe weekends on Saturday and Sunday.
Traditional biscuits shopkeeper Vicky Cheng said business was good during the past two public holidays as customers from Singapore as well as Kuala Lumpur and Penang frequented the shop here.
“Besides tourists, visitors from other parts of Johor like Batu Pahat also bought our traditional baked products such as siew bao and tau sah piah.
“We are expecting a similar crowd this weekend and will add one or two staff members to handle the orders as we bake our pastries in-house.
“As some customers buy 20 to 30 pieces of the buns at one go, we recommend they book in advance to avoid disappointment,” she said.
Cheng added that previously, they only sold Chinese New Year cookies at pop-up fairs and opened the first physical shop in April.
Joseph Lim, who is part of the third generation that runs the popular century-old banana cake shop, said he noticed many visitors from Melaka over the holidays on top of customers from across the border.
“We are expecting a similar crowd this weekend as our customers are usually from Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Penang.
“Despite the long holiday, we will be selling the same quantities of cakes and breads on a first-come, first-served basis.
“During weekends or public holidays, our items will be sold out at least an hour earlier than usual,” added Lim.
Meanwhile, shop manager MN Kadhar said he also expected more people to stop by his shop to purchase drinks during the long weekend in view of the hot weather.
“It is quieter on weekdays so we look forward to the long weekend.
“We expect to see more locals this Thursday and Friday, followed by Singaporeans on Saturday and Sunday.
“Our main outlet in Jalan Trus and branch in Jalan Dhoby have been seeing many patrons shopping for items such as refreshments, perfumes and kaftan dresses during the last two holidays so we will be hiring more part-time workers to tend to the crowd,” said Kadhar.
