It has been a year since Mesqel Square reclaimed its place as the capital’s favourite site for public gatherings and popular functions. It reopened after a lengthy facelift cost taxpayers a whopping 2.5 billion Br. Despite the spending, the Square is captivating, especially at night, when bright lights blaze the walkways leading up to the Addis Abeba Exhibition Centre entrance, luring visitors.

Last week, crowds were flocking to the Centre wearing eager expressions, attending the ritual new year exhibitions and the bazaar that goes with them.

Music filled the air, and traditional dancers performed in the distance in colourful outfits on stage. The festive atmosphere accompanied visitors as they walked into the Centre to do what they had come for: shopping.

The Centre has long served as the venue for holiday events. It is run by the Exhibition Centre & Market Development Enterprise, a public enterprise under the Addis Abeba City Administration. The Enterprise also oversees the refurbished Mesqel Square next door. Opened two weeks ago, the annual bazaar stays open until the holiday’s eve on September 10. Four pavilions host up to 450 booths, each stocked with consumer goods such as clothing, furniture, kitchenware, and food items.

The Enterprise leases booths at rates determined by size, nine square metres for 65,000 Br being the cheapest. Vendors pay over 100,000 Br for larger ones. Almost all the booths were occupied last week, seeing vendors double what Teklu Abate, deputy general manager of the Enterprise, had seen during the Easter holiday exhibition a few months ago. Unlike the usual practice of leasing the space to an event organiser through bidding, it is the third time the Enterprise has organised a holiday exhibition on its own.

It hosted the most recent Christmas exhibition after Betahon Special Events Plc, a newcomer to the event industry, defaulted on its bid to host the event after offering a record-high 68 million Br. The company had also won the bid to host the Easter Bazaar, offering 43 million Br.

Nonetheless, Betahon’s aspirations for a dazzling debut on the holiday scene did not pan out well. The Enterprise’s executives were compelled to take matters into their own hands. Judging by the turnout last week, they have done a decent job. Shoppers were crowding the area, and the atmosphere was energised.

Three thousand visitors congregated at the exhibition a day. Teklu expects triple this number in the days leading up to the New Year holiday.

A third of the vendors Teklu and his team have rented space to hail from India, Turkey or Syria.

It was the ninth-holiday exhibition for Mudassir Gaifie, an Indan businessman. His booth was stocked with kitchen appliances. He hoped to lure buyers with a deal: Buy two items and get one free. Gaifie was selling a tomato slicer for 300 Br, and a vegetable chopper goes for 200 Br more. Selling up to 70 items a day, he seemed content with business.

Domestic vendors, too, were having a better time, primarily due to the products they have on offer and high demands.

Abdela Umer was among these vendors visible at the Centre last week. He claims not to have been worried by the competition. Nor does he distress about business as he was vending a highly sought-after consumer good: cooking oil. He worked as a distributor of sunflower oil imported from Turkey. His experience in the business meant he was confident about his prospects even before setting foot in the Exhibition Centre.

His expectations were well founded.

Recent months have seen retail prices of cooking oil hitting the roof. The market has been volatile since last May when retail prices for a five-litre container of sunflower oil jumped to 600 Br with no warning signs. A month later, consumers paid close to 1,000 Br for the same volume.

Abdella sells a five-litre bottle for 870 Br, 15pc lower than the going rate at retail shops. He sells as many as 120 bottles daily, earning more than 100,000 Br.

“It’s been remarkable,” he told Fortune.

The same does not hold for all vendors, however.

The exhibition is a much-needed prospect for Berana Leather Plc. A local firm incorporated eight years ago with 2.8 million Br capital, Berana manufactures shoes, purses, and belts. Anteneh Girma, its sales person, was manning the booth the company leased for 95,000 Br. It was a fee of 20,000 Br more than they had paid last time for a similar space.

Berana’s booth witnessed a marked drop in business this time around. Sales turnover has shrunk by over two-thirds, Anteneh told Fortune.

Despite the return of visitors to the Centre in drove, most consumers agree that this year’s exhibition is the most expensive they have ever attended. Consumers like Hanna Addisu are less inclined to open pocketbooks during this holiday.

A mother of one, Hanna visited the Centre last week to shop for school supplies for her fifth-grader son.

“I was expecting to find items for discounted prices,” she told Fortune.