OLD MARKET Kuching City

Gambier Street Market was closed on 15th June 2008 and brings the curtain down on the heyday of historical Old Kuching.

The hustle and bustle and the bargaining between seller and buyer, the traffic jams, the familiar sights and smells of the old market and a way of life city dwellers have grown accustomed to will be replaced with a quietness city folk will take sometime to get used to. Hawkers were part and parcel of the city landscape and they had contributed greatly to society and the state’s economy.

Records in some publications show the market existed as early as the 1860s although permanent structures as the ones we see today were built in the early1900s.

All traders from the vegetable market right up to the garment store at Gambier Street were relocated to a spanking new market in Stutong in Tabuan Laru, a busy residential area.

Stutong Market was completed in April 2007

Urusan Lengkap Sdn Bhd, built the seven-acre Stutong Market in 18 months at around RM15 million. It is the first market in Sarawak to be equipped with a state-of-the-art waste treatment plant for the convenience of the people and betterment of the environment.

The Stutong Market is designed to minimize wetness — a common problem at wet markets — to offer a conducive environment for both traders and customers alike. The two-storey building can hold more than 500 stalls and has large parking area. It is the biggest market Sarawak

The old market will be demolished eventually. And the government has a plan to extend the Kuching Waterfront right up to the Brooke Dockyard. Some structures were good and worth maintaining while others may be knocked down to make way for the extension project of Kuching Waterfront which is expected to stretch right up to the Brooke Dockyard.

The run-down Gambier Street Market was not only dirty and untidy but also prone to massive traffic jams. There were 40 to 50 fishing vessels using the jetty behind the Gambier Street Market for loading and unloading.