About 100 traders exhibited their products at the school fair that opened today, August 15, at Moldexpo. Parents and children are welcome between 10 AM and 7 PM until August 31, when the fair closes, IPN reports.

This is the second edition of the school fair at Moldexpo and new vendors have joined since last year. Some are disappointed by the unimpressive number of customers, but hope more will come over the next days.

“We're here for the first time. I hope it goes well. We can leave the goods here overnight because there's security. From this perspective, it's better than on the Stefan cel Mare Avenue, but there we had more customers from the first days”, said Sergiu Ciobanu, a vendor.

Another trader, Aliona Frunza, agrees that there are few people shopping. Most just inquire about the prices, try the products and leave. “It's not what we expected. Perhaps there wasn't enough advertising. There are few customers”, said fellow vendor Vioric Izman.

This year's average shopping basket for a student costs about 2000 lei. A school bag costs between 300 and 400 lei. Vendors admit that prices have increased from last year. A boy's suit can be bought for 800 lei, a shirt for 200 lei, and neckties from 60 lei upwards. A pair of shoes costs about 450 lei.

The supply is richer for girls. A dress begins at 350 lei, a 3-piece uniform (skirt, pants, jacket) at 550 lei. Shirts cost between 50 and 300 lei and shoes between 500 and 700 lei.

On top of these expenses there are also the school supplies. Standard notebooks cost around 3 lei, colored paper – 7 lei, colored pencils – 30 lei and watercolors – 25 lei.