Practicing Space Through Rituals: Everyday Interaction of Small-Scale Traders in George Town

In George Town, Malaysia, many small-scale traders embedded in local communities continue to sustain social ties and cultural meanings through ritualized interactions, despite increasing standardization and depersonalization in urban commerce. Using ethnographic methods, this article analyzes how interactions and symbolic practices unfold between traders and customers through the stages of entry, in-store engagement, and leave, framed through the dual perspectives of ritual and spatial theory. The research finds that these interactions reflect what Goffman describes as the interaction order while also revealing deeper cultural expectations and boundary-setting practices embedded in spatial arrangements, material displays, and everyday norms. Through greetings, avoidance gestures, and the exchange of gifts, traders establish a mode of engagement that is both rule-governed and emotionally charged. The article argues that the interplay of spatial use and ritual behavior not only shapes the structure of everyday encounters but also offers a fine-grained perspective on how social relationships are formed and maintained in contemporary urban life.