Shopping picks up momentum ahead of Eid in Peshawar

PESHAWAR - Eid shopping spree of traditional bangles and henna has reached to climax with a great rush of buyers mostly girls and youth being witnessed on these stalls in city markets. The youth, girls, and women buyers in droves are being seen in readymade clothes, henna, and bangles’ stalls in lucrative markets of Peshawar, where shopping activities reached to peak on Friday.The distribution and exchange of bangles and henna as gifts among the girls on Eid is an old tradition of Peshawar, which is adding a unique color to Eid celebrations. Colorful henna and bangles stalls were set up by shopkeepers in all main markets like Deans Trade Centre, Gora Bazaar, Meena Bazaar, CT tower, Hashnagri, Firdaus, Tehkal, Hayatabad, and other important locations in Peshawar offering varieties of gleaming bangles, cosmetics, embroidered cloths, jewelry, handbags, shoes and colorful dresses as Eid special offer. Shopkeepers selling daily used items and booksellers have set up additional stalls of bangles and henna to cash on the profitable situations. Samina Khan, a girl busy shopping at Gora Bazaar told APP that she came here from Nowshera to buy bangles and henna sets for herself, relatives and friends. “I have bought 20 sets of bangles and henna and would use them during Eid days to look stylish.”

She remarked buying shimmering glass bangles matched with beautiful colors of readymade dresses and decorated hands and feet with henna were being essential features of eid festivities multiplying her joys.
“This was the cheapest way of taking along friends and relatives as one can buy a full set of quality matching bangles and henna for less than Rs200.”
She said, “white dress with pink shades has been purchased by me and I am now looking for matching shoes and jewelry, hairclips and bangles. I would come again on Chand Raat for decoration of hands from henna expert ” she remarked.
Sidra Bibi, a resident of Wapda Town, who came along with his father for shopping at Saddar Bazaar said bangles and henna always fascinated her, and without it, my Eid seemed incomplete.
She said matching bangles with clothes and shoes were my first priority in Eid shopping and would come on Chand Raat to decorate her hands with henna specialists.
“It was difficult to go out shopping during Ramazan plus kitchen work but will step out for buying imported bangles and henna on Chand Raat, which will add my joy.”
She said personally I like henna tattoos easy to paste on hands, feet and can easily be removed, adding decorating hands with henna tattoos with different designs was the most preferred choice of girls on Chand Raat.
Keeping in view of high profits in Peshawar, many people of other districts have set up makeshift stalls to fully exploit the money-minting opportunity.
The unemployed laborers established temporary stalls to sell readymade bangles, henna, and artificial jewelry keeping in view of people’s high demands for Eid.
The shopkeepers said when people can pay more prices to beauty parlors, boutiques, shoes, tailoring, and other services for Eid then their complaints about increased prices of readymade clothes, henna, and bangles items were unjustified. They expected the sale would go further up during Chand Raat.
The shopkeepers demanded the deployment of police especially ladies constables in all major shopping centers, arcades, and streets for the security of shoppers during the last days of Ramazan and Eid days.