The preparations for upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr have started gaining momentum with each passing day as huge number of buyers are seen in the prominent shopping malls of the capital. Despite rising inflation and escalating prices of the garments, shoes and other accessories, Eid shopping is registering upward trend in the markets.
The illuminated shopping malls displaying stalls of colourful bangles, jewellery and henna outside the shops are attracting the buyers, mostly after Iftar. Women shopping normally starts two weeks earlier as they have to prepare dresses, buy jewellery and other accessories to colour their religious festival with traditional zeal.
Many established and amateur dress and jewellery designers have started exhibiting their products at various galleries, houses and open-air lawns to attract maximum number of women, providing them with perfect fashion extravaganza. "These days are not only a way of providing a variety of shopping opportunity for buyers but also bring perfect income generating opportunity for stall holders," Irfan Khan, a bangles stall-holder at a local market said while talking to APP.
"Any type of accessories relating to women and garments for children are the most profitable business after passing half month of Ramadan," he added. The stall-holders also give an opportunity to females 'mehndi' artist couple of days before Eid to give them earning opportunity as well as boosting their own sales, he said.
The last weeks of Ramadan also witness huge rush at beauty salons and ready to wear boutique dresses. "I bought pink dress and now looking for matching shoes and then I have to buy matching jewellery, hair clips, bangles. I will again come with my family on 'chaand raat' for henna," Zara, who is five years old, said. "I have visited market to buy bangles and observed that bangle stalls are very few and the prices are not affordable," she said.
Exchanging gifts, especially bangles and cards near Eid is also a tradition mostly followed by young girls but escalating prices of these items have limited the ways of sharing joyful moments. A young girl Aieza Ishaq said "Bangles are very much expensive and it is difficult to exchange bangles as gifts to my friends".