Ramzan, Eid shopping: In e-retail age, Old City shops make a killing
From women bargaining for home furnishing items to clothing, shoes, crockery and everything that’s on sale to men and children supporting them by carrying the shopping bags, one sees it all
Cash registers are ringing at shops in the Old City areas of Nakkhas, Akbari Gate, Yahiyaganj, and Aminabad as they do brisk business over Ramzan and Eid shopping.
From women bargaining for home furnishing items to clothing, shoes, crockery and everything that’s on sale to men and children supporting them by carrying the shopping bags, one sees it all. The number of polybags and shopping bags in their hands would at once make you realise as if the part of the Old City continues to cherish the charm of stepping out, feeling the fabrics, smelling the perfumes and inspecting the quality of a product from all sides in front of their eyes.
Prabhu Jalan, vice-president of Lucknow Vyapaar Mandal, said that it might seem that the brands and online market would impact the traditional ones, but a massive portion of the society believes in buying things by checking it in front of their eyes. “The demand at the offline shops continues to grow in a similar way as it used to be, back in the day,” said Jalan.
President UP Kapda Vyapaar Pratinidhi Mandal, Ashok Motiyani, also justified the fact that offline stores are doing brisk business. “When it comes to buying clothes, especially, people believe the store they have been buying clothes for many years are the brands. They trust the clothing store because they can come to us anytime, they feel the clothes are not at par with their expectations. Secondly, they find designer yet durable pieces at a reasonable price in the offline market,” said Motiyani.
Zainab Fatima (35), in Nakkhas, said that she believes when it comes to finding durable and affordable items, the market has a range of products fitting everybody’s pockets. “My family and I spend some quality time, while shopping for the festival and also for Sehri and Iftar. We find everything from vegetables and fruits to hair accessories on the go while shopping here,” she said.