One of the largest open markets, Shola Gebeya near the Megenagna area, was not radiating its usual ora. Shola is one of the largest trade hubs in Addis Abeba, hosting thousands of traders selling food and non-food items. The traders are in sorrow as a fire started at a boutique last Monday night had expanded to different corners, leaving some partially burned while destroying corners that sold butter.

Most are shattered by the event, while some try to toughen up, huddling around the butter corner. The fire burned close to 80 shops, and the accident caused a loss of an estimated 50 million Br worth of property.

Wubesht Bogale and Shemelis Sisay are traders appointed by the people, making a speech in front of the lined traders. The representatives are persuading their colleagues and people who happened to be in the area to contribute what they can in a sympathetic tone.

Hopeful faces were everywhere as Wubshet asked to form a committee to collect money.

"There are nearly 2,000 shops in the area. We expect at least 5,000 Br from each," Wubshet told Fortune.

Birhanu Yadetta, 63, a father of nine, was one of the traders whose shops were right by the place that started the fire. Amazingly, his properties were left without a scratch.

“It is a miracle," he said. He believes that divine intervention has saved his shop worth more than two million Birr. Birhanu has been a butter trader for the past four decades, and he sources dairy products from Sheno and Gojam.

Another victim who has lost all her property is Selam Birhanu, a mother of one who supports her brother beside herself by selling butter. She said that close to half a million Birr in cash was burned along with packs of butter with a value of 500,000 Br.

"I had brought four packs of butter on credit from farmers and was about to pay," she said.

She expressed her shock sympathetically, which turned the holiday mood upside down. Before the accident, she had planned to celebrate her two-year-old daughter's birthday. At Shola, a kilo of butter, a vital ingredient for a holiday, was sold for 850 Br, which shows a 100 Br difference from the last.

A kilo of honey was sold for 450 Br, showing a 300 Br difference from last year and cheese was sold for 250 Br.

Meseret Belete, a mother of two, made her way to Shola from the Kotebe area. She has been making the trip for years, looking to buy goods and ingredients for the holiday. When she was heading to the butter corner of her regular supplier, only to find out that their shops had been destroyed. Meseret went to another trader and bought three kilos of butter, but seeing her supplier in agony weighed heavy on her.

"The price is fair; it is not as expensive as I expected it to be," she said. For the new year, four months ago, a kilo of butter was sold for an average of 650 Br and 750 Br, 100Br lower than the past week's price. The prices for spices and herbs have also gone up. A spice called Mekelesha mix, often used for stews, stands at 1,500 Br a kilo, 400Br higher than what markets offered the past September.

Westward from the butter quarter in Shola Market lie the stalls selling chickens. This section of the marketplace is also teeming with buyers. Some of the stocks of the traders were empty, and some had filled their stocks with a few domestic breeds, the preferred choice for buyers, sold for between 750 Br and 1,100 Br. The going rates were not so different from the past. Chickens are brought to markets in the capital from Wello in Amhara Regional State.

Those in stock have been shipped from Dessie, in the Amhara Regional State, according to Birhanu Demeke, one of the chicken traders in Shola. He has only sourced 40 Chickens from Farmers.

“There is a supply shortage from poultry farms," said Birhanu.

Eden Taddesse, 33, who was visiting the market with her friend, was not surprised to see a little increase in the price of chickens. She bought two large-sized chickens paying 900 Br for each.

"The market is not as inflated as I expected," she told Fortune.

Eggs, which cost 13 Br apiece a couple of months ago, are now priced at 11 Br from distributors and 13 Br from retail shops. A kilo of onion is sold for up to 28 Br at Shola Gebeya. It is less than what traders have been asking during the new year holiday celebrated four months ago, which was 60 Br.

Shoppers were out to the market looking to buy cattle all around the city. Qera, the area where sheep and cattle trading used to be hyped now seeing fewer buyers. Mulugeta Girma, 30, is looking to buy a medium-sized cattle with his friend Solomon Getachew. They had plans to find what they are looking for within 40,000 Br.

"We want to buy everything early before the holiday nears," Mulugeta said.

They have tried to visit other cattle trading centres, such as Bulbula, on the outskirts of Addis Abeba. They found the cattle price at Qera much better than the ones they have been at. The primary sources of cattle sold in the capital are Jimma, Welega, and Arba Minch towns.