Syed Shemul Parvez :
There is no joy of Eid in the various shopping malls in the city. There are no sales and no buyers there.
The day after tomorrow is Eid, but the number of buyers in the markets is not upto the exception.
To attract the buyers, ‘special discount’ stickers have been affixed in the various shops, but buyers ignored it.
As a result, garment traders are not getting the proper benefit of relaxed lockdown.
The sellers are spending lazy time sitting in the showroom. The same picture is seen in various shopping malls and markets in the capital.
According to them, clothing sales are generally low in this Eid, due to the corona virus attack.
In this regard, Azharul Haque Azad, former President of Fashion Entrepreneurs Association of Bangladesh and one of the founders of Sadakalo, said that various fashion houses have been opened after the government conditionally gave permission. But there is very small sale. Though various items are being sold as usual, there are no reasons to be happy. It will be possible to give some money to the employees. The overall loss will not be met in this way, he added.
Besides, the bank is demanding installment of loan due to opening of outlet. But no one has sold satisfactory amount of products yet. As a result, fashion houses are in big trouble.
It was seen on Monday that there were no crowds in the shopping malls even after visiting several areas including New Market, Gauchia, Bangabazar, Gulistan, Paltan, Dainik Bangla and Motijheel.
Visiting Dhanmondi Hawkers Market in the afternoon, it was seen that there was not much crowd even though the buyers are coming and going. When contacted with the owner of Jahan Mansion’s Pinky Fashion House, he said, sales are not very good unlike previous years. Selling is as usual. As a result, it has become difficult to rent a shop.
Visiting the Science Laboratory branch of Arang, it was seen that even though the Eid collection arrived, the sales were very low. During Eid, where people were supposed to line up in these showrooms, but the picture is different.
On the other hand, visiting Bashundhara Shopping Mall, it was seen there was not even small number of shoppers in the market. Attempts were made to attract the buyers by offering up 30 to 50 percent ‘special discount’ in the various shops.
Meanwhile, there was a slight crowd in the different sidewalk shops across the city. The sellers have expressed satisfaction over the increase of sales in sidewalk.
