KOTA BARU, Jan 6 — Kedai Abang Din, a household supplies store in Tendong, Pasir Mas — roughly an 8km drive west of the state capital here — had only been open for three months before the worst floods in recent history hit Kelantan.

Most of the crockeries were discoloured from the muddy water that came up to a man’s waist, and their cardboard containers were ruined.

As soon as waters receded, the storekeepers decided to sell off the damaged goods at half their original prices to clear its stock, but did not advertise the sale. Indeed, they just used the banner from its opening sale from October last year.

But even without marketing, local residents started flocking to the store every day for the past week as word spread of the immensely-discounted goods and the owners discovered the fire sale had brought in more money than they had made in the first three months of business.

“We have been open for three days. We just wanted to clear our stock and get some cash to buy new ones,” Mohd Yussof Che Noh, one of the storekeepers, told Malay Mail Online when approached last Sunday.

“Before this, we could just watch the days go by, smoking cigarettes, and we would be happy if we could get RM150 in a day. Now, we get between RM500 and RM600 every day,” the 52-year-old said, beaming.

With the clear weather, Yussof and other workers just had to arrange the goods in haphazard piles on the pebbled ground in front of the store. Ripped cardboard from boxes or large plastic tarps served as linings.

In one pile were plastic containers, metal colanders and glass cookie containers, all covered with soil. In another were stainless steel cutleries, melamine bowls and ladles. Another plastic bucket held drinking glasses.

Mismatched ceramic cups and saucers occupied one spot, and was the most popular with the buyers. Most were heavily discounted, with the cups at RM2 each, and a set of six glasses was going for only RM8.

Similar scenes played out in several stores in Wakaf Che Yeh here, an area famous for its nightly bazaars, as carpets and bales of textiles were strewn at streetside for customers to pick according to their fancy.

In Rantau Panjang, the town known for shopping and imitation goods bordering Thailand and 40km away from Kota Baru, traders also have been holding day-long discounted sales after the waters receded.

In one part of the town, a clothing trader who gave her name as Kak Moh, 54, was setting up a stall selling faux leather jackets for RM60, half the original price just before the deluge.

Shoppers go through clothes on sale at a street stall in Rantau Panjang, Kelantan. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

“I’ve having a discount as these jackets were slightly damaged by the water… All the other shirts were dry already, and I had sold them for only RM5 apiece,” she said, arranging the jackets on a rack, their hems still damp.

Racks and racks of clothings — from headscarves to kaftans and replica football kits — crisscrossed the streets, lending a colourful, almost festive air to the border town that was still in full-on clean-up mode.

A brief survey by Malay Mail Online showed that some of the stalls held sales not because their goods were damaged by the floods, but were just cashing in the situation to clear their year-end stock.

“After the floods, some of our goods were damaged, but so were those owned by the victims. Now that things are better, they’re coming here to rebuild their wardrobe,” Kak Moh suggested.

For fruit vendor Mahzan, 33, the crowd was more than welcomed. He said the number of visitors to Rantau Panjang had slowly dropped in the past year after its Central Market caught fire in January last year.

“It’s like a fiesta over here! And to think just a few weeks ago the waters were up to my navel,” Mahzan said as he offered us his selection of Thai mangoes.