Like other cities and towns of Sindh, Eid’s shopping activities reached to peak in Karachi where people, youth and girls thronged to shopping arcades and markets to buy appropriate stitched garments, shoes and bangles. The jubilant mood of young girls, women and youth is approaching full swing. Stitched Shalwar Kameez, Kurata shirts especially of lawn and cotton prints, varieties of bangles and Chappals are dominating the city’s fashion markets and shopping arcades. Colorful eid stalls have been set up at various points, offering different kinds of cosmetics, earrings, gleaming bangles, embroidered clothes, jewelry and colorful dresses. The people belonging to all age groups including women and children are seen busy in eid shopping. Nowadays, the main focus of the people is towards the purchase of the clothes, footwear and many other items for the festival.
Meanwhile, a larger number of makeshift shops have sprung up on the pavements of the city on the Eid occasion. Everyone try to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the biggest religious festivals celebrated after Ramazan with zeal and fervor and maximum arrangements are made in this regard. Stalls of traditional Eid cards at various markets in Sukkur like ‘Neem Ki Chari, Clock Tower, Shahi Bazar and Ghareeb Abad were seen awaiting customers. While SMS, voice message, online chatting, E-cards are usually inexpensive for customers than traditional greeting cards. Meanwhile, animated and attractive E-cards have also grabbed youngsters. Owing to these time saving electronic means of communication, people do not like buying and sending traditional Eid cards via post.
However, some parents were trying to buy affordable products particularly garments and shoes only for their children because they could not see displeasure on the innocent faces. For this purpose the low-income people preferred to visit stalls at roadsides and on footpaths because products available on these stalls are less expensive than the shops.Salaried class people said that in the limited salary it was almost difficult for them to meet the needs of daily life but Eid was such event, once in a year, so they try their best to purchase according to resources. This buying spree is likely to continue until the last day of the holy month of Ramazan.
The number of visitors is gradually increasing in the markets and so are the sales. From mid day to mid-night, footpaths, makeshift sale stalls and shopping malls, illuminated to welcome Eid, have started receiving crowds including mainly women. The customers throng different markets of the city every day. Following gradually increasing the rush of customers, the shops remain open even on holidays including Sunday in hope to sale more.
The shops are flooded with latest garments for male, females and children. The shops are full of new as well as traditional attires to cater the need particularly the teen aged boys and girls. The markets of city have abundant stocks of goods. These goods vary from luxurious to household essential items. The showrooms have been made attractive with the display of goods. Some of the shopkeepers offer Eid discount to cloth to attract more customers.
Meanwhile, shops and boutiques selling readymade clothes have marred tailors’ business in the city. Tailoring shops across the city appear to have slowly lost ground to readymade clothing stores with latest collections of dresses ahead of Eidul Fitr. Many tailors claim they are receiving fewer orders every year, and this year, they may have to continue taking orders even in the second half of Ramazan. In the commercial areas of Bahadurabad and Tariq Road, severe traffic jams occurred and shoppers as well as shopkeepers were observed to be without masks, while markets were crammed full of people, who were walking shoulder to shoulder. According to the traffic awareness and social media unit of the DIG traffic, due to a large number of visitors, traffic movement was extremely slow at Gul Plaza, MA Jinnah Road, Jama Cloth, Denso Hall, Empress Market, Bolton Market, Tariq Road, Jauhar Morr, Hyderi and in other areas.
