Where Did Stallholders Go While Redhill Market Was Upgraded?
We caught up with returning proprietors at this popular market after its months-long renovation.
Share to:
Back abuzz
Walk into Redhill Market and Food Centre, and what strikes you immediately is how there is a lack of any real smell. The usual smells of fresh fish, pork, mixed with the fragrance of flowers, are instead replaced with an airy, refreshing smell of what seems to be. . . life.
It’s 1:15 p.m. You’d expect that the wet market would have wound down at this time. Usually, most buy their items in the early morning, with stallholders preparing to shut down after 11 a.m.
But today, there’s still much bustling. Part of it has to do with how it’s one month before Chinese New Year, and people are preparing their homes for hosting their families. People crowd around the stalls browsing through this year’s festive decorations, imagining how each piece would look adorning their home. Others peruse the plants, lifting the pots up for closer inspection while stallholders explain their merits, as well as any auspicious associations they may have.
Across the open plaza, the Redhill Food Centre is also enjoying a brisk trade again as diners flock to their favourite stalls for the dishes they had missed when the market was closed for renovations between September and December 2025.
What did stallholders do during downtime?
Walking up to ask a vegetable-seller, we are immediately struck by the convivial atmosphere. The proprietor has a big pot in front of her, stirring the remains of the lunch she has cooked and shared with two of her fellow stallholders.
One of them leans back in his chair and pats his stomach. Asked what he did over the break, he says in Chinese, “sleep!” Everyone laughs. “We just spent our days at home, cleaning and cooking.” Didn’t he go on a holiday? “No, we just rested at home.”
Didn’t he have to take care of his grandchildren? “No, parents nowadays want to take care of their kids in their own way. You can’t spoil those kids.” Just then, a customer approaches and asks in Malay how much the kailan is. “Tiga ringgit,” the stallholder replies. Ringgit? Are we in Malaysia? The customer chuckles, and we realise it’s a private joke they’ve had running for years. Ringgit because the makcik was from Malaysia, and because she sometimes tries to bargain with the uncle.
The customer’s child stands in front of the vegetables, trying to juggle some cabbage. The lady boss good-naturedly asks her if she would like to buy that as well.
Building for generations
This banter we see at Redhill Market is a microcosm of the generations’ worth of interactions that occur at markets and food centres throughout Singapore.
To ensure Singaporeans continue to enjoy these connections – formed over freshly-prepared hawker meals or fresh produce bought at wet markets – our markets and food centres are continuously updated to serve the needs of each successive generation.
This time at Redhill Market, the Town Council’s efforts were focused on improving ventilation, upgrading toilets, replacing tables & chairs, updating to non-slip tiles, and providing bigger spaces between tables to improve foot traffic flow.
These upgrades are completely free of charge for stallholders, and their stall rental is waived while the upgrading work is in progress.
This minimises the financial load on stallholders and affords them the breathing room to take a well-deserved break during the months of renovation.
"I spent time with my family"
It wasn’t just stallholders who got a long-overdue break. When asked what he did during the renovation, one cleaner replied: “I went back to India for three months!” He beamed with happy recollection before adding, “I could be with my family for the first time in years.”
Now back in Singapore, he continues his routine of waking up at 5 a.m., seven days a week to clean tables & chairs, mop floors and perform all the other tasks needed to ensure a clean, tidy and pleasant environment for diners and shoppers. We are reminded again that hawkers and vendors aren’t the only heroes at our markets.
Moving further along the rows of stalls, we asked another aunty selling drinks how she feels about the upgraded market. The first word out of her lips was, “Great!” While she’s happy to be back at work in refreshed premises, she does acknowledge that it is tiring to run a coffee stall and keep her customers from nearby offices fueled for their day.
Likewise, her three months were spent at home resting. Again, there were no holidays.
Supporting our wet markets
As the crowds thin, we go back to the vegetable sellers. When they were asked how business is doing, there was a quick grimace before the elderly stallholder said, “We became hawkers after retiring. But you can see, not so many people these days.” Indeed, many customers may have been lured away by the comfort of air-conditioned supermarkets nearby.
But air-conditioning cannot take the place of the intangible relationships found in wet markets. Like the stallholder asking whether we had just moved into the area, who we live with, and quickly recommending vegetables to cook for a family meal. She even playfully poked fun at this author’s thinning hairline, saying, “Broccoli very good for growing hair!”
Wet markets and hawker centres have been the centre of our communities for decades. They are the hub around which meals are shared, and where stallholders know your “usual” by heart and always greets your toddler with an affectionate pat on the head and the occasional treat.
If markets like this were to be replaced with staid, air-conditioned supermarkets, there would be no conversations, no bargaining – just cold, utilitarian and transactional market visits. We’d have a very different society indeed.
So we hope you’ll give your support to keep markets like Redhill going. Pick up groceries, enjoy a delicious meal, get to know your favourite vendors – build relationships and cultivate your community, and bring your kids along so these connections remain strong, well into the future.
Be sure to visit Redhill Market & Food Centre and its pop-up stands for your Chinese New Year festive shopping.
