Shops and malls in the city were seen crowded with Eid shoppers on Friday buying new dresses and other essentials for celebration of the Eid-ul-Fitr culminating the holy month of Ramadan.
Witnesses said shoppers including young men, women and children thronged different malls on the weekly holiday since morning braving drizzling to buy their special items.
The salesmen were seen busy selling the Eid items, especially dresses. After Juma prayer, the malls were full of shoppers. Now the items for children and women are
being mostly sold.
Most salesmen said that the sales have not yet reached its peak compared with past years although half of Ramdan has passed.
Shoppers said that the prices of all products had increased by 10 to 20 per cent than the last year.
‘The sales after the Ramadan 16 was around Tk 60 thousand a day last year but this year the volume of sales came down to Tk 20 thousand a day,’ Shahjalal Store owner Jamal Hossain at the city’s Mouchak Market, who salls unstitch ladies’ dress, told New Age.
He said the dresses for girls - Rashi, Tushu, Tupur, Fulki, Jolnupur, named after different heroines of Indian Bangla and Hindi television serials, were on high demand. Their prices range between Tk 2,000 to Tk 4,500.
Mouchak Market is favoured by mostly middle income shoppers.
Ashraf Uddin Ahmed, central manager of Smartex at Bashundhora City, said sales at all their outlets decreased this year.
‘At present the ladies’ and kids’ wears were running high. The gents’ wear are now selling slowly,’ he said, adding that the gents’ wear sales usually increase in the last one week before the festival.
Shahrun Islam, a salesman of Bulbul Sari Museum at Mouchak Market, said from the first day of Ramadan every year they used to sell Sarees, but this year the picture was different.
He said most of the people came to visit the Saree shops and inquired about their prices.
People were seen visiting the markets to buy clothes, Saries, kids’ dress, footwear, cosmetics and imitation ornaments at different shopping malls.
M Kamal Hossain, proprietor of Lamia Jamdani Weaving Factory, at Jamdani O Tant Bastra Mela on Sidheshwari Degree College ground said most of the employees were yet to get their salary and festival bonus and so they were yet to come to the market.
The salesmen said this year Indian dresses with full embroidery works are on high demand. Despite, women choose pure georgette clothes with embroidery for making dresses which are selling at Tk1,500 to Tk 2,500 per yard, the salesmen said.
But the customers are not happy with the price as they said the price is very much high.
‘Price is very high now. I bought a dress for Tk 5,000 which should not be as high like this,’ said Happy, a housewife from Bashabo.
She said, ‘Even the tailors have increased the rate of making charge. Previously we made dress at Tk 300, but now they ar demanding Tk 800 to Tk 1,000.’
This year traditional Indian dhupian katan, tassar katan, gadoan katan were on high demand, said the Masud Rana, salesman of Jotey at Bashundhara City.
Tangail Tant Sari were on high demand as always, the salesmen said.
‘My Eid shopping is almost finished. A few number of gift items are yet to be bought and that is why I come to market. We will leave Dhaka to celebrate Eid in our village home,’ said Moushumi Khan, a resident of Modhubagg who came for shopping at Bashundhara City.