Mohammedia City's Moroccan Community
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The Souk
What makes the Sunday Souk of the city of Mohammedia so magical?
During the weekdays, the place is an empty space filled with nothing but earth, litter, and street dogs. Yet, on the weekend, it is a magical marketplace called the Sunday Souk in the city of Mohammedia. Sellers come from faraway places to peddle their things, trying to sell them and make some profits, but the competition is always very tough. In order to compete in the Sunday Souk, peddlers need to well advertise their products. In fact, with the use of portable megaphone speakers, vendors can advertise their products all day long by playing an exciting recorded voice ad that loops over and over again, informing customers, for instance, about product prices or detailed recipes of how to get rid of flies or the steps of how to use a kitchen machine. Though a portable megaphone speaker is used basically for advertising goods, it can also be used to find a kid who lost his mother in the crowds of the souk. The vendor who does not have a portable megaphone speaker will have to promote his products verbally by producing several out-loud voice messages in order to persuade new customers to buy his products. It is a tiring and energy-consuming task but a necessary technique of persuasion to increase sales by the end of the day.
There is no limit on how many peddlers and sellers can sell in the souk; therefore, sellers who do not have a reserved souk space within the allowed territory may end up stopping on the street for business. However, the police may come to take away their portable digital weighing scales if the street is too crowded and, as a result, blocked.
The Sunday Souk has four main sections at attractive prices.
The first section is the vegetable section, which is located on the northeast side. In there, fruits and vegetables are piled up in front of each seller; however, prices are not shown. If a buyer wants to know the price of a fruit or a vegetable, he must ask and be patient, as the seller may be dealing with other customers. Many shoppers walk from vendor to vendor, comparing prices before determining which vendor has a better bargain. Realistically, most customers go in the afternoon because the fruits and vegetables are more affordable compared to the morning prices.
And there is the clothing section on the northwest side that is shadowed from the sun and is always crowded with mainly woman buyers. It sells used items of clothing that are relatively in good condition. An article of clothing may cost as little as three dirhams, which is very affordable to many Moroccan families, as getting a job in Morocco is still as difficult as climbing Everest.
The third section is the meat section, where butchers are selling cow, lamb, turkey, and chicken meat in the center of the souk. The chicken and turkey are affordable, but cow and lamb are out of reach to many people.
The last main section sells items that are related to kitchens, housekeeping, gardening, wooden things, and miscellaneous items. This section is known as Kusha or Keysha. Most of the items in this section are used items, but not all are in good condition. One must check before the final purchase, as sales frequently happen with no warranty or return.
People take many kinds of transportation to come to the Sunday Souk in the city of Mohammedia. Besides the bus 905, the souk shoppers may take cabs, a four-wheeled cart drawn by a horse, or a two-wheeled cart that is also drawn by a horse or a mule. They may also ride on the cargo bed of a three-wheeled Chinese motorcycle that is widely used in Mohammedia, known as a "tri-porter" that transports, mainly, lumber, furniture, and construction products. All these types of transportation cost five dirhams and support many families, but not all are safe to ride.
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