Visiting different shopping malls and markets in New Market, Elephant Road, Gulistan, Paltan, Shantinager, Mouchak and Panthapath areas on Monday, the UNB correspondent found all those are crammed with shoppers.
While traders expressed their satisfaction with the volume of sales, buyers complained about the high prices of products.
The outlets of different local fashion brands, including Easy, Aarong, Ecstasy, Dorjibari, Infinity, Rex and Plus Point, were abuzz with huge crowds, thanks to their new collections.
Footwear brands like Apex, Bay, Bata, Lotto and Crescent also attracted huge crowd with lucrative offers and arrays of new collections.
Nur Mohammad, a lecturer of Bangladesh Open University, said he bought a Panjabi at Tk 2,700 and a T-shirt at Tk 1,300 from Dorjibari at Bashundara City Shopping Mall.
Claiming that different companies are selling products at higher prices, he demanded that a market monitoring system should be there to control it.
Sales executive of Easy Fashion Ltd at Shantinagar Sohel Mahmud told UNB that the demand of their new items is very high.
“We’ve already achieved our target. Panjabis are selling at Tk 1,690-Tk 2,480 while shirts at Tk 1,355-Tk 1,580, T-shirts at Tk 580-Tk 990, Jeans pants at Tk 2,280-Tk 2,480 and gabardine pants at Tk 1,480-Tk 1,990 at our branches,” he said.
Razinur Rahman, a government primary school teacher in Old Dhaka, said after enjoying the holiday for the entire month, she went to different markets to buy cosmetics and other items to match her three-piece sets and sarees.
She, however, expressed her worry about adulterated and substandard cosmetic items.
The teacher demanded that the government take action against those involved in such malpractice.
Imran Hossain, a salesman of Plus Point at its Mouchak branch, said they are selling shirts at Tk 1,380-Tk 1,480 while T-shirts at Tk 580-Tk 980 apiece. “We’re offering a 10 percent discount for payment via bKash app and 5 percent for bKash manual payment. We’re happy with the turnout of customers,” he added.
Another sales executive Aminul Islam of Apex Footwear Limited said they brought around 500 new items on the occasion of Eid.
“We’ve offered a 30 percent discount for payment through Nexus Pay, 20 percent for Rocket, and 15 percent for NRB Bank cardholders, 10 percent for Jamuna Bank, Dhaka Bank and UCB Bank this year,” he said.
Sonali Bank officer Ariful Islam Arefin said he bought clothes for his family in the second week of Ramadan. “It’s tough to go shopping right now with huge pressure of office work.”
Shafiqul Islam said he bought a panjabi, a pair of pants and some clothes for his children from Elephant Road. “There’re many local brands and branches with new collections here. But the prices of apparel products are high. However, I’m happy I’ve been able to complete my Eid shopping today.”
Khadija Rahman, chief designer of Taaga Man, said that they received a good response from customers this year cashing in on their new collections, especially for children and men. “We make products targeting middle-income group. Our panjabis are selling at Tk 2,000-Tk 5,000, which are most popular among customers,” she added.
Bangladesh Shop Owners’ Association President Md Helal Uddin told UNB that they have set a target to rake in Tk 25,000 crore to Tk 30,000 crore from clothes and footwear items during this Eid.