Dip in mercury pushes up sales of warm clothes in city

Talha Bin Habib | Published: December 05, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Due to a sudden fall in mercury across the country, sales of warm clothes and blankets have shot up at different markets and makeshift shops in the capital, according to traders and customers.
Mercury may drop further within a couple of days and it will herald winter within next few days, sources in Met Office said.
City dwellers have started feeling chilly in early morning and late night ahead of the beginning of the winter season.
However, temperature has already dropped significantly across the country. Mercury will further dip in the second week of the current month, Omar Faruk, meteorologist at Dhaka Met Office, told the FE.   
He said average temperature in the capital is still above 20 degrees Celsius. The Met Office recorded temperature of 27.3 degrees Celsius in the city while the lowest temperature recorded in Syedpur was 14.82 degrees Celsius yesterday.
A cold wave may also sweep the city and other parts of the country at the end of December, he added.
Two-month long winter season begins with the arrival of Bangla month of Paush. It (Paush) will continue until the end of Bangla month of Magh, likely to bring in a mild weather in mid-December which would become the coldest in January.
During visit to different markets and makeshift shops, this correspondent found that traders were busy selling winter clothes and blankets at Purana Paltan, GPO, Gulistan, Sadarghat, Bangabazar, Motijheel, Gausia, Farmgate and Mouchack markets.
Young men prefer to buy their warm clothes from Gausia and Bangabazar markets as the prices of winter clothes are cheaper there.
People from all walks of life, especially those of low and fixed income group, were crowding makeshift shops in the capital to buy warm clothes and blankets for their near and dear ones.
They were also found busy purchasing cosmetics such as vaseline, branded lotion, cream and olive oil to face dry weather during the winter season.
"I purchased some winter clothes (sweaters) for my family members as winter is knocking at the door," Md Halim, a private service-holder, told the FE in GPO area.
"I've come with my father to buy a jacket," Radia, a student of class seven, told the FE at Gulistan.  
Shopkeepers expect better sales on a fall in temperature just after some days.
"I expect to sell a huge quantity of warm clothes this year. I hope to make handsome profits this year compared to that of the previous year," said Md Rana, an owner of a shop at Gausia market.
Rana said he sold warm clothes especially jackets and trousers worth around Tk 20,000 on Friday. He also expressed the hope that it will be doubled in the days to come.  
Ordinary full sleeve sweaters were selling between Tk 300 and Tk 500, shawls between Tk 300 and Tk 1,000, jackets between Tk 300 and Tk 1,000 and the prices of long women's jackets ranged between Tk 2,000 and Tk 8,000.
Different sizes of blankets (foreign) were selling between Tk 2,000 and Tk 3,500 while locally-made blankets ranged between Tk 300 and Tk 500.
    talhabinhabib@yahoo.com