After performing Haj or Umrah, some pilgrims try to make money by doing business before leaving the Kingdom to go home. The Bab Shareef area in Jeddah's Al-Balad district is well known for the open-air market set up there by African and Asian overstayers to sell used clothes and household items. Located in the center of the city and surrounded by many old residential buildings, the market attracts many customers which increases traffic congestion in the narrow streets during rush hours. The unauthorized market opens daily at 1:00 P.M. and closes at 7:00 P.M. because there are no lights to enable buying and selling to continue after sunset. Clothes, household utensils and blankets are some of the products being displayed in makeshift stalls to attract customers. Those manning the stalls use their bargaining ability and other sales techniques to conduct business. When asked the price of an item, they reply in a loud voice so that everyone will hear and others will be attracted by the low price. T-shirts of different colors and sizes, for example, are being sold for SR10 to SR 20. Most of the customers are middle-aged women who live nearby and find the prices low in comparison to similar items in other markets in Jeddah. SG asked Aisha Adam, an old Somali woman who sells different kinds of used clothes, where she gets the items that she sells? She said that she buys them at Al-Sawareekh a well-known market in the far south of the city. She explained that she recently bought a bundle of used children's clothes for SR5 per item. She then washed the clothes at home, ironed them, wrapped them in plastic and brought them to the Bab Shareef market. The total cost of that bundle of used clothes was SR500. But after washing, ironing and packaging them so that they looked brand new, Adam was able to sell each item for between SR10 and SR20. That means she will be able to take in SR1,500 giving her a profit of SR1,000 for the bundle of used clothes. Residents living near the open-air market complain about the inconvenience caused by overstayers setting up stalls and spreading their goods for sale on blankets on the ground. “Please write about what is going on here,” Ahmed Al-Amoody, a local resident, told Saudi Gazette. “We are suffering from the bad smell. Look how they have occupied this place and put up their stalls. This is not the kind of Jeddah that we want,” he said. Although Jeddah municipality has on occasion visited the market and removed the stalls and blankets, the vendors return to sell their products as soon as they can. “When officials from Jeddah Mayoralty came yesterday, most of these people escaped. However, after only one day they returned and rebuilt their stalls and stands and started selling at the same place and time,” Al
