Islamabad - Sale of winter clothes, including second-hand garments, is gradually gaining momentum with the arrival of a cold wave in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
Stalls of winter clothes and sales points of shoes can be witnessed at Aabpara Market, Melody Market, Super Market, Jinnah Super Market, Sitara Market, Peshawar Morr, Karachi Company, Faizabad, Commercial Market, Sadiqabad Chowk, Raja Bazaar and at many other big shopping malls and markets of the twin cities, where shopkeepers seem busy doing their businesses. Crowds of people, both the poor and the rich, can be seen bargaining with retailers in markets and weekly bazaars where, besides woollies, heaps of quilts, bedcovers, blankets and rugs are up for sale.
“Our business is going well and expected to gain momentum in coming days when demand for winter clothes would be on peak,” said Akram Hussain, a shopkeeper at Karachi Company. “Our sales get doubled and we expect that in the days ahead these will go up further,” claimed another shopkeeper who owns a shop at Jinnah Super Market. Prices of winter clothes are very high in this year, said Shumaila Khan, a shopper adding that she was there to buy some clothes. The prices of clothes and jackets are out of range, she added. She said that common man could not afford to buy new clothes due to inflation. Many people throng weekly and Landa bazaars to buy used and second-hand clothes that are comparatively cheaper than the new ones. The poor people get warm clothes from Landa bazaars at very cheap prices, said Azam Ali at the capital’s popular Weekly Bazaar of Peshawar Morr. “The prices of new winter wears are out of our reach. We, therefore, rush to second-hand clothes stalls where we get quality clothes at affordable rates”, he added. Winter season always brings hardships for the poor, said Zaheer Abbas, another shopper at the weekly bazaar, adding that being a most expensive city of the country, Islamabad had no place for the poor.