Last-minute Eid shopping: Bashundhara City, New Market see flurry of customers

At 12:00 pm this afternoon (9 April) Yellow's showroom in the capital's Bashundhara City Shopping Complex was crawling with customers. 

As the line grew before the counter, Tanveer, a staff member at the store, said the crowds have been building up since 10:00 am, even today and their shop will remain open till 2:00 am to accommodate the last-minute shoppers as Eid will be celebrated on Thursday (11 April).

As government offices will remain closed from tomorrow (10 April), many people are showing up in the mall as there is little time left to shower loved ones with gifts.

The prices, however, are steeper than last year, some shoppers said.

Saidur Rahman works in a private office. He bought himself a panjabi for Tk3,200. But last year, the price of such panjabi during Eid was Tk2,200-2,300, he says.

From 11:30 am to 1:00 pm today, this mall saw a flurry of people at branded stores, including YELLOW, Gentle Park, Aarong, and Desi Dash.

Sharifuzzaman Rana, admin manager of this outlet, said, "Our sales have been the same as last Eid. Those who are coming today are buying more clothes for Baishakh than Eid. And those who are celebrating Eid in Dhaka are among the last-minute shoppers.

A customer, Advocate Awlad Hossain says he went there today with his entire family, and especially to buy his wife a saree for Baishakh. 

According to about 10 sellers at various outlets in the mall, clothes for kids were almost sold out around the 20th of Ramadan. More adults are buying things around this time.

At a busier corner of the city, the new market area, there was more of an influx of shoppers hunting for shoes, clothes and cosmetics. 

Mehdi Hasan went to buy a panjabi for his father. "I got paid today and figured I'd come out to buy some nice things for my family.

Though the malls and stores saw a different scenario, sales seemed to drop for the sidewalk vendors. 

Noor Alam, a vendor in the capital's Karwan Bazar area, sells t-shirts and pants. 

"I usually sell pants for Tk500-800. I only sold one pair from morning till 11:00 am. Our sales are 50% less than last Eid," he said.

A security guard, Abdul Malek, went and bought some clothes from the sidewalk with his mother and wife. As he did not get an Eid holiday, he said he would visit his hometown in Rangpur after the holidays, so he bought some gifts for his family members today. 

According to a survey by the Bangladesh Supermarket Owners' Association, businesses earn about Tk1.7 lakh crore ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr. Of this, Tk37.4 thousand crore is spent on the clothing sector. 

In this regard, Bangladesh Dokan Malik Sami President Md Helal Uddin said income is very low for small and medium businesses compared to the brands. 

"Those who buy branded clothes have no shortage of money. We all know this. The difficulties are faced by the small and medium traders."