Festive season: Eid shopping gains momentum

Numerous temporary roadside stalls have sprung up in busy markets

RAWALPINDI: The month of Ramazan culminates in Eidul Fitr, one of the biggest religious festivals in Islam.

With a little over a week till its arrival, shopping has gained momentum and people of all age groups, particularly women and children are seen busy shopping in bazaars and malls, as was observed here on Monday.

These preparations will typically reach a crescendo on “Chand Raat”.

Throughout the twin cities, stalls have sprung up, selling cosmetics, earrings, clothes, bangles and mehndi.

A lot of these bazaars have been decorated with festive lights.

In Rawalpindi, there are a large number of such stalls, particularly in markets including Tench Bhatta, People’s Colony, Lalkurti, Saddar Bazaar, Chota Bazaar, Moti Bazaar, Chor Bazaar, Commercial Market, Sadiqabad, Rehmanabad, Chaklala, Buni Market, etc.



In Islamabad, G-9 Markaz, Super Market and Jinnah Super Market are the best places for buyers to do their Eid shopping. These areas witness the greatest surge in buyers after iftari.

The shopkeepers in these areas say that they expect this shopping frenzy to increase even further in the last week of Ramazan.

“It is in the three days before Eid, that the sale of our goods reaches their highest point,” said Fayyaz Khan, a stall owner selling bangles, at Jinnah Super Market.

“The price of a dozen bangles ranges from Rs100 to Rs300, depending on their quality and detail. Kanwal Sohaib, a student said, “Eid shopping is incomplete without buying bangles and applying mehndi”.

Sameen Khan, a student of Fatima Jinnah Women University, said that handcrafted bangles had become popular but observed that they were costly when compared to steel bangles, which lasted longer.

As per a stall owner at Karachi Company, rubber bangles along with artificial gold bangles are in great demand this year.

Upon contacting the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) police, an official said “Security measures had been taken in various markets to facilitate buyers shop in a safe and secure environment.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2016.