KARACHI - Although the holy month of Ramazan is not finished yet, the residents of the port city are on a shopping spree to celebrate Eidul Fitar.

Large number of people throng markets and shopping centers, especially after Iftar, to purchase clothes, accessories, jewellery, shoes and other items.

Some of them are also buying new furniture for their homes.

Although there are many who have confined themselves to window shopping only, others who can afford seem not really happy with the price hike. But they still continue to shop.

Merchants of Cooperative Cloth Market told this scribe that the Eid shopping began to gather momentum after 10th of Ramazan. This is an extremely busy season for us as most of the customers who buy unstitched material from our shops also demand to stitch them due to rush at tailor shops, they added.

Even in the mid of the holy month, some tailors have stopped taking orders that is creating hassle for the customers and forcing them to buy readymade material, they added.

A tailor in Saddar Market, Mohammad Aslam, said that he along with his assistants were working 24/7 to complete all the orders before the end of Ramazan, but the unannounced loadshedding was badly affecting their progress.

Salma Siddiqui, resident of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, who runs a beauty parlour in the locality, said she did her shopping before Ramazan as stitching of clothes took time while in the last week her business was booming as a large number of women had sought appointments with her for various services.

Barera Kulsoom said that her family shopped at the eleventh hour since festivity was at its peak at the end of Ramadan.

She said nothing could stop people from shopping for Eid, not even the ever increasing prices.

“The shopkeepers are aware that Eid shopping is must; therefore they demand high prices to keep their margin while people have no other choice but to purchase even on double rates,” she added.

Another resident of Karachi, Farhan Khan, said that shopping during Ramazan had a different feeling, but he preferred not to visit the markets during the fasting hours due to hot weather.

He said that most of the people visited markets after Iftar as weather turned pleasant at that time. “But this leads to overcrowding on roads and markets,” he said, and added, “Moreover the mismanagement and little presence of traffic personnel at markets cause massive traffic jams creating mental agony for the people.