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Many hawkers are struggling to make ends meet after tightened measures kick in during the Heightened Alert period.

A man who visited Jalan Batu Hawker Centre recently highlighted a fruit stall that did not have any customers until close to noon time.

Facebook user Louis Tan posted in the Can Eat! Hawker Food group that he had come across the said hawker on June 2.

Tan said that he was the hawker's first customer of the day when he visited at around 11:45am.

According to Tan, the hawker told him that his sales takings had been affected by the recent tightened measures, because he relies on regulars and walk-in customers.

The hawker described that it is a "tough situation" as the regulars are not visiting as frequently due to work-from-home arrangement.

Furthermore, not all who came by would buy drinks, given that they could not dine in.

Tan also wrote that the hawker had been selling his items at the same prices over the years. This is because most of his customers comprised mainly senior citizens, many of whom stayed in the area in one, two, or three-room flats.

Keeping agar agar jellies at S$0.50 for nearby elderly residents

Speaking to Mothership, the hawker named Tay Kim Heng, 67, said that the stall is a family business, helmed by three brothers.

They got their jellies from a supplier and it is indeed an conscientious decision to keep prices low and affordable despite pressure from competitors.

The agar agar jellies are currently sold at S$0.50 a piece, with various flavours, including yam, coffee, rainbow, and rose.

They also sell agar agar jellies in square containers, at S$4 per box.

Other than agar agar jellies, the stall also sells juices and hand-cut fruits, including watermelon and papaya, from S$0.50.

Support from many Singaporeans

The Facebook post by Tan has since garnered over 1,500 likes and over 800 shares, as of the time of writing.

When Mothership went down on June 3 and 4, the Tay brothers said that their agar agar jellies had been sold out for two consecutive days, following the viral Facebook post.

Almost in disbelief, the younger brother Anthony Tay, 57, quipped that he is now famous.

One customer had even bought seven boxes at one go, he told Mothership.

The hawkers expressed gratitude to the support from those who had come down, since about 10:30am on both days.

Image via Lean Jinghui

And of course, we bought a box of agar agar jelly too.

It's simply what you need to keep cool in this sweltering weather.

Details

The stall, Meng Fruits, can be found at Block 4A Jalan Batu Market & Hawker Centre, #01-32, Singapore 432004.

Its opening hours are from 10:30am to 8pm.

The hawker centre generally caters to the breakfast and lunch crowd, and also includes other hawker fare such as Wanton Mee and Mee Jiang Kueh.

Top image via Louis Tan Facebook