Amid rising inflationary pressures, the shopping malls offering some discount are like manna in the desert for customers and with Eid approaching fast, the lower middle class Islooites are completing their shopping ahead of the holy day. There are a large number of shopping points in the city which are offering seasonal sales and considerable discount on shopping. And it is no wonder that these sales and discounts offer much anticipated opportunity to the lower income groups of society to buy clothes and other accessories deemed essential for Eid preparations. In the capital city, the markets and shopping malls such as Jinnah Super, Super Market, Karachi Company, G-10 Markaz and Aabpara Market are tempting people to buy maximum articles within their household budgets. Hordes of people are seen thronging these market areas determined to give final touches to their Eid preparations.
The shopping malls at G-10 and Karachi Company are offering children’s clothing and jewelry on discount prices. One can see the glittering stalls there specially set up for Eid shopping spree. But the dark side of this shopping, as the disgruntled shoppers put it, is that most of the articles being sold on discount prices are of “low quality”. “I know the dresses, I am buying for my kids are not of good quality but from this stall I bought them for Rs 600, you tell me from where else could I can get dresses on such cheap rates,” said Uzma Mansoor a shopper in G-9 Markaz market. Her children were looking very excited since they were along with their mother; helping her select their new Eid dresses. Henna, 8-year old, told this scribe very excitedly, “I’ve told my mother it is fine by me if she won’t be buying a sacrificial animal but she must buy her a new dress for Eid since all of my friends have already bought theirs.”
The shopkeeper of the stall told Pakistan Today that he knew the material used in making those dresses was substandard and that that was why they welling selling them cheap. For example, he said, he was selling each dress for Rs 200 and that too in every size. “So what does one expect for Rs 200, a hand-stitched suit?” he asked this scribe. He said most of his customers were satisfied with the stuff he was selling. He admitted he was making almost 50 percent profit these days almost the double of what he was earning before the Eid shopping started. Similarly a large number of women and girls were witnessed buying bangles and enna. Some of them said they were completing their shopping before leaving for the hometown for Eid.
“Our three children need new clothes, shoes, bangles, henna and other stuff,” said Imran Ali, a government employee, a shopper at Super Market. He said that though the prices of almost all items were very high but children won’t understand “such things” and press their parents to buy new outfits. Naheed Bibi, a shopper at Karachi Company Market, said she had felt the heat of prices this year but she had to buy things and make his children happy. Smalltime vendors are also making money on the sides of the streets. They deal in items pricing between Rs10 to 20 and are always seen surrounded by children and women.
