Local fashion businesses, which experienced low sales in the last two consecutive Eid owing to the Covid are now hopeful to overcome the loss as a growing number of shoppers started thronging at the city’s shopping malls.
Shoppers are seen mostly visiting shopping malls like Bashundhara Shopping Complex, Jamuna Future Park, and Dhaka New Market ahead of this year's Eid-ul-Fitr.
The annual local fashion market size in the country amounts to Tk 300 billion while Eid sales account for 40 per cent of it, according to the business insiders.
Nurul Islam, a sales manager of Richman Lubnan, a men’s clothing store at Bashundhara City Shopping Complex, told the FE that sale of different men’s clothing items, including Panjabi, shirts, trousers, T-shirts, jackets have increased about 20-30 per cent compared to the covid-hit years.
However, he expected substantial sales this Eid as Bangladesh sees almost deathless days and a paltry Covid case nowadays.
Low- and middle-income people, who mainly shop on large scale ahead of Eid, have reduced their budget this time due to skyrocketing prices of daily commodities along with rising prices of clothes, cosmetics, and shoes, he argued.
The country’s largest shopping complex Jamuna Future Park on Friday witnessed a pull of shoppers as service holders started getting the festival bonus on the occasion of the Muslim’s biggest religious festival.
Samsuzzaman Bablu came to the Jamuna Future Park, arguably the biggest shopping mall in South Asia and the 24th biggest mall in the world, along with his wife and two kids from the Bhulta of Narayanganj for Eid shopping for all eight of his family members.
We can easily come to Jamuna shopping mall mainly because of improving road communication through 300-feet road and the expressway, he told the FE on Friday.
Md Sazzad Hossain, the chief official of Apex Footwear at Jamuna Future Park, told the FE that their outlet at Jamuna, the second-largest sale point in the country, has already started witnessing a pull of shoppers since last week.
“Since Thursday shoppers in an increasing number started coming for Eid shopping. We are satisfied with the sales this year, including ahead of Pohela Boishakh.”
Eid sales witnessed a significant hike compared to the Covid-hit previous years, said Bangladesh Supermarket Owners' Association (BSOA) general secretary Zakir Hossain.
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