The decision to allow shops in the capital to stay open till 8:00pm has been greeted with warm welcome by both shop owners and shoppers.

Starting from earlier last month, city shops have been allowed to stay open till 8:00pm instead of 7:00pm following an appeal from the leaders of Dhaka City Shop Owners Association.

“It's a great step that has been due for a while. As people tend to be too busy during daytime to go shopping, an additional hour for shopping is always welcome,” said Sagar Chowdhury from Green Road.

City dwellers with their families rushing to shopping malls on the verge of closing in the late evenings has become a common spectacle following the curb in mall business hours.

However, city dwellers believe the revised closing hours will somewhat ease the situation.

Nafeesa Alam, a service provider from Dhanmondi, said the extended shopping hours would be a boon for people who spend most of the day in their offices. “The extension of time to shop is bound to prove more convenient for everyone,” said Nafeesa Alam.

“Previously office-goers returning home at 5pm used to have a hard time reaching the shopping malls by 7pm. The extension has alleviated some of that late evening haste,” she added.

“The additional hour is really appreciated, however we are still restricted to visit only a handful of stores with the limited amount of time,” said Poornima Saha, a schoolteacher from Banani.

Shop owners are also delighted with the longer shopping hours and are thinking up ways to woo buyers in the late hours. Mohammad Ekramul, owner of a jewelry shop in New Market, is one of those shop owners.

“To stay open till 7:00pm in this age of commercialization and consumerism is an utterly unfair deal. I feel it's a very good decision from the government, however they should consider stretching the business hours by another hour or so,” said Ekramul.

Taiyab Ali, owner of an electronic goods store in Baitul Mukarram market echoed the words of Mohammad Ekramul.

“Although the extra hour hasn't had much effect in the sale, it has reduced the last minute haste at the end of the day,” said Mohammad Tobarak, another shop owner from Baitul Mukarram market.

“We are content with the extended hour as the government decided it for the best interest of everyone,” he added.

Following the authorities' decision to put a ceiling on the business hours of shops to ease the pressure of electricity usage, discontent and criticism surged from both shop owners and shoppers on the ground of inconvenience. The fact that the restriction in shopping hours did little to reduce the power outages only boosted public outcries.

While the revised policy to extend the business hours by an additional hour has been a good move by the authorities, city dwellers believe the government should consider schemes to increase electricity production rather than trying to cut its usage.

“Rather than taking these sorts of policies to cut the use of electricity, they (government) should prioritize increasing the production of electricity,” said Mohammad Ekramul.

“Also, there are numerous examples of illegal use of electricity everywhere. The authorities should be more concerned to remove these illegal connections, which would be a more viable measure to ease electricity usage,” he added.

In a bid to take some pressure off the electricity deficit, the government put the ceiling on shopping hours on February 25 earlier this year. All businesses except for restaurants and pharmacies were bound by the new policy.