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Eid sales frustrate shop owners

Md Fazlur Rahman
Afternoons are usually a busy time for any shop-owners in the run up to the Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest festival for Muslims, but things are pretty much the other way around this year.
Mostafa Sarkar, owner of Taiyeba Fabrics at Bashundhara Shopping Mall in the capital, and his four employees were yesterday afternoon seen larking for customers as sales during the holy month of Ramadan have fallen astonishingly.
“We know that customers mostly buy items in the last weeks of Ramadan, but visit the stores the whole month. As of this year, the number of customers visiting the stores is also less compared to that of previous years,” said Sarkar.
“We, however, do not know why,” he told The Daily Star.
He said Taiyeba Fabrics had sold items worth Tk 1 lakh a day during the last Ramadan, but this year the average sale did not exceed Tk 20,000 per day.
Sarkar apprehends his hope of making a bigger sale would soon dismiss on him since he sells unstitched garments, which shoppers normally buy a long lime before the Eid as the items need tailors to turn them into complete dresses.
Eid-ul-Fitr is the culmination of the biggest selling season of the country, when a majority of the population at least buy apparel items and footwear.
The Eid is less than two weeks away but shopowners say their sales have not peaked yet compared to that of the previous years. The shop-owners at the city's top stores and markets said the sales had gone down by 50 percent compared to that of last year.
Habibur Rahman, a sales assistant of Dorjibari al Bashundhara Shopping Mall, also shared the same feelings. "We hope the sales will go up after the 20th Ramadan."
Ahsan Habib Shiplu, a lecturer of Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, came to Bashundhara Shopping Mall with his two friends. He said the price of the items is high.
“So, the shoppers are giving much thought behind every purchase," said Shiplu, 28, who bought panjabis for his four cousins.
FISC student Hridoy Hossain, who came to shop with his seven-year-old cousin Nishat, agrees with Shiplu as far as the price of items is concerned. He said, "I bought a pair of shoes with Tk 1,700. The same pair cost Tk 1,100 last year."
"Price of every item has gone up in the similar fashion," he said.
Delwar Hossain, a manager of boutique house Onnomela, said the price of items at his store had to be enhanced by 15 to 20 percent this year compared to last year, as the production cost had increased sharply.
Nurul Islam, a sales manager of Milon Garments in
New Market, the country's largest shopping centre, said the customers were mostly struggling with their limited incomes.
Shop-owners fear although the sales shoot up in the last week of Ramadan, particularly on the last couple of days, this time it may happen otherwise, as the city-dwellers may start leaving the capital for village homes as early as August 14, when the 11-day holiday starts.
The bearish trend in sales has also hit other businesses, such as furniture and electronics.
Biplob Saha, a managr of Halil, one of the renowned furniture-makers in the country, said the average sales are lower than the previous years'.
The dip in sales also hit shopping bag-seller Nowsher Ali. The 22-year-old, who has been selling bags at the New Markel for 10 years, said he used to sell at least 20 bags a day last year, but this Ramadan he is selling 12 to 15 bags a day.