Eid shopping gets momentum in port city

CHITTAGONG, July 4 (BSS) :  As the Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the major religious festivals of the Muslim community, is drawing close, shopping has gained momentum with great hustle in the markets in port city.
The buyers are crowding in the city markets here to buy clothes and other items for their families.
All the city markets are seen busy selling their commodities as crowds of customers at the shopping centres start in the morning and continue till midnight.
With a rise in the number of buyers, traffic jam became acute in the city's different busy areas including New Market, Chawkbazar, Probortok, Andarkillah, GEC, Lalkhan bazar crossings and Agrabad.
Most salesmen said that the sales have not yet reached its peak 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 12 was around Tk 0.06 million(Tk 60 thousand) a day last year but this year the volume of sales came down to Tk 0.02 million a day, said Ashad Iftakher, President of Sanmar Ocean City Businessmen Association.
Talking to  the news agency Kazol Bonik, General Secretary Mimi Super Market Businessmen Welfare Association said most of the public and private employees have started to get their salaries and festival bonus so the shop owners become busy selling their commodities as crowds of customers at the shopping centres start in the morning and continue till midnight.
According to the importers and wholesalers, this year's most important development centering the Eid shopping economy was pushing of Indian products - which are traditionally dominating in Bangladesh's Eid market into backward point due to heavy onrush of China, Taiwan and Thailand-made readymade garments, three pieces for girls, shoe, cosmetics, kids' item and other fashion products.
Popular Indian clothes are being sold at prices ranging from Taka 5,000 to Taka 30,000. Both Indian and local saris are also in great demand, Abdul Mannan, General Secretary of Terribazar Businessmen Association quoting different market sources said.
Different brands of local saris like Silk, Katan, Tangail and Indian Kanjilal, are in great demand in the local markets.
Bangalore, Silk Katan, Anarkoli and Lehenga, Pakhi dresses, Kiron Mala dresses are being sold in higher prices ranging from Tk 5000 to Tk 50,000. But the customers are not happy with the price.
Shamsun Nahar, a buyer at Sanmar Ocean City in the GEC area said, "I bought a dress for TK 8,300 which should not be as high".
The buyers, mostly middle-income people, are found moving from shop to shop asking prices of goods. Roadside footpath shops and small shops are found more crowded than the big shopping malls.
Meanwhile, a large number of makeshift shops have sprung up on the pavements of the city on the occasion of Eid. Prices of different varieties of cloths, particularly cotton tissue, silk, and synthetic, have registered a sharp rise.
The rich buyers are crowding different big shopping centres, while the low-income people are also seen purchasing their desired items from the footpath shops in the city.