M M Jasim :
Shopping has started gaining momentum with people of different age groups thronging city’s shopping malls and makeshift shops on footpaths to buy dresses and other necessary items on the occasion of Holy Eid-ul-Fitr which is just two weeks away.
Bashundhara City, Mouchak Market, Karnaphuly Garden city, Chandni Chalk, Farmview Super Market, Eastern Plus, Nerw Market, Baily Road Market, Eastern Plaza, Twin Towers, Bishal Center, DCC Market at Gulshan, Rapa Plaza, Momtaz Plaza, Mohammadpur Super Market, Rajlakshmi Complex and Ameer Complex among others, were teeming with Eid shoppers on Wednesday.
Aarong, Westecs, Dorji Bari, Banglar Mela, Anjans, Boshon, Deshal, Deshi Dash, Vushan, Texmart, Mela, Chaity, Sada Kalo, Menz Club, Infinity, Kay Kraft and Rex were also swarming with buyers. Panjabi, sari, three pieces, fatua and baby items have best sales. Shop owners have stockpiled a huge quantity of goods in their shopping outlets targeting the Eid, Tawfique Ehsan, President of Bangladesh Dokan Malik Samity, Dhaka City unit told The New Nation.
Panjabi, the traditional and common attire for men of different ages and professions, is a vital item. Without a panjabi and pajama many cannot imagine complete pleasure of Eid.
Panjabis of different colours and designs made of adi cotton, pure cotton, khadi, Rajshahi silk, reshmi cotton, jute cotton and bexicotton fabrics have been selling in the markets extensively for their high demand among the customers.
The price of panjabis with hand-stitched embroidery varied on their qualities and designs. Prices of locally made panjabis were between Tk 700 and Tk 7,000 each at different shopping malls in the city.
Popularly known Saree houses on the Baily Road were also found teeming with customers. Sajani, Bunan, Priyodorshini, Jesmin Consortium, Tangail Sari, Anonnya, Jhalak, Navila, Smriti Sari, Utshav and Badhua are popular sari houses here.
A rich collection of sarees such as cotton block, freehand, stitch work, applique, block, jamdani, tant silk, Tangail katan silk, Muslin Jamdani and Dhakai Jamdani are topping the choice list of variety of customers.
The prices of cotton block, freehand and jamdani vary from Tk 500 to Tk 2,000, tant silk from Tk 1,200 to Tk 5000, Muslin Jamdani Tk 4,000-5500 and Dhakai jamdani Tk 4,000 and Tk 25,000.
Sales managers of M Craft and Unish Kuri, two boutique houses on the city’s Baily Road, said that sales of the showroom reached satisfactory level already.
The fashion house has a collection of local and Indian salwar-kameez, they added.
Sales manger Rezwan of Suraiya show room at Gausia Market said that he got significant response from the customers on Friday. He sold a good number of unstitched Salwar-Kameez on cotton Katan, Net Katan and clothes on Madraji Designing Katan, Rubia Buta Cotton Kotki etc.
The cost of a local lady’s three pieces is varying from Tk 2,000 to Tk 7,000 while the Indian one from Tk 4,000 to Tk 10,000 depending on quality and design.
New Row, the baby wears showroom at the same place also received an enormous number of customers.
A salesman of the shop said prices of the baby wears vary from Tk 650 to Tk 4,500 for girl child and Tk 650 to Tk 3,500 for the boys, depending also on size and quality.
Besides, the shop is also selling Chinese, Thai and Indian baby wears, he said.
Meanwhile, the overall cost of all types of Salwar-Kameez, Sarees, baby’s and gent’s wears has almost doubled, claimed the buyers.
Sanchita, a customer, who came to Chandi Chalk market said that the dresses, she used to buy at Tk 3,000 before Ramadan is now being sold at Tk 5,500.
Saikat Iqbal, another shopper, also said the cost of gents T-shirts and denim trousers increased by nearly 20 per cent ahead of the Eid.
Shop owners are of the opinion that following the price hike of raw materials, the cost of the garment products has increased this year.
