Shop owners happy with rising Eid sales

Arafat Ara
Most of the fashion shop owners in the capital are satisfied with their overall Eid sales this year. However, incessant downpour took a toll on their profit in the last couple of days.
Traders said though the rain slightly disrupted business during the Eid-ul-Fitr festival, they are happy for receiving a significant number of customers throughout the month.
"The sales are good. But following bad weather, the number of shoppers declined in the last two days," said Mizan, a salesman at Gentle Park at Elephant Road.
He also said due to rainfall the traders have lost three weekends, which were the high time for sales.
Mizan said their sales are better than last year, as these increased nearly 20 per cent this year. If weather supports, the sales will go up further before Eid, he hoped.
Gentle Park keeps Panjabis in its collection at prices from Tk 1,995 to Tk 5,690 each, whereas shirts from Tk 1,995 to Tk 3,690, and pants from Tk 2,000 to Tk 2,600. The salesman said the best selling wears at their showroom are Panjabis.       
Rudro, manager of Cotton Gallery at Priangan Shopping Center, also expressed satisfaction on their festival business, saying that sales boosted up this year.
The shop is selling unstitched salwar kamiz, imported from India and Pakistan.
"I'm selling dresses worth Tk 200,000 a day on an average during this Eid, whereas the amount was Tk 150,000 last year," he said.
Fashion lovers can buy unstitched dresses like Joypuri, Omtext, Jinam, Moyuri, Bani etc at Tk 1,200 to Tk 3,800 each.
The shop is also selling Indian boutique dresses at Tk 3,000 to Tk 4,000. The cotton and silk-based wears are the first priority among the customers, as the weather is rainy and hot, he added.      
The owner of Rifa Fabrics at the same market also said their sales are higher than those of last year. The shop is selling different types of printed and designed salwar kamiz.
However, some shop owners and salesmen at Elephant Road and Science Laboratory areas expressed frustration about their sales despite high gathering of customers.
They claimed that major portion of their Eid collection remains unsold.
The owner of Civies said his sales have been poor throughout the month. "We collected a number of shirts of different designs ahead of Ramadan, but there is hardly any customer all daylong."              
Manager of Anika Fashion also said his business is not well during this festival.
"I don't know the actual reason behind the poor sales, but we're not doing well," he added.  
Meanwhile, traders at Panjabi shops like Reshomghar, Khadibitan and Boby Fashion received huge shoppers on Friday, a weekly holiday. They are displaying mainly silk and cotton-based local and Indian Panjabi and Kabuli dresses for men at reasonable prices.
They said the sales of Panjabi usually rise in the last 10 days of Ramadan. But if the rainfall continues, the shops will fail to get their targeted customers this year, they apprehended.
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