Eid shopping spree begins

The Eid-ul-Fitr shopping spree is peaking by mid-Ramadan, but the crowds fail to satisfy the shopkeepers.

On Friday, the weekly holiday, customers flooded New Market, Chandnichawk, Gausia Supermarket, Bashundhara City, Jamuna Future Park, and shopping malls at Gulshan, Banani, Dhanmondi, and other areas in capital city Dhaka.

In New Market and Science Lab areas, people were buying clothes and footwear mostly from the hawkers on the footwalks.

Globe Supermarket shopkeeper ‘Alamgir’ said people crowded the shopping malls, but mostly bought cheaper goods from hawkers.

Event management firm official Ariful Islam bought Panjabi, slippers, and t-shirt from New Market.

“I am returning home though I wished to buy more. I’ll come another day because it is too crowded now,” he said.

Boom Fashions Manager ‘Mamun’ said sales in seven of their outlets were not satisfactory.

The crowd was bigger in the fixed price shops.

Businessman Sajjadur Rahman bought things for his wife and daughter, but could not choose a Panjabi for his son.

“My son wants a colourful Panjabi, so we are checking out many shops. I have to keep the price in mind as well,” he said.

At Bashundhara City, customers expressed anger over queues for trials and the delay in collecting bills.

No less than 70 people lined up to pay bills at six counters of a megashop there.

One of them, ‘Arifuzzaman’, said he was waiting for half an hour. “No peace after buying,” he alleged.

Those who came to the shopping mall with cars had to face problems over parking.

University student Shariful Islam said he was waiting on the queue for 30 minutes. “It will take another half an hour to park the car and start shopping,” he said.

Most of the shops in this shopping mall were selling at fixed prices with bigger crowds.

Some of the customers alleged that the shops in the mall were charging much for children dresses.

“They are ripping us off. They charge more when they see a child chooses a dress,” housewife Naznin Sultana alleged.

Gulshan Pink City’s fabrics trader ‘Shahabuddin’ said sales rose from Shab-e-Barat to mid-Ramadan.

“But the sales are not good this time,” he said.

Spark Gear Accountant Sujit Kumar blamed the political turmoil in the beginning of the year for the drop in sales.