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It was around 11pm when at least one private car was entering or leaving Police Plaza Concord Shopping Mall every two minutes. There might not be a huge crowd, but hundreds of shoppers were seen coming to the mall late at night. Many were also coming to the mall, boarding CNG-run three-wheelers.
Raisa Afreen, who works at a multinational company, came here with his younger brother to do their Eid shopping. After entering the shopping mall, she directly went to the showroom of Vibrant. But after a while they left the outlet as she didn’t find the shoe she wanted for her brother Afsar.
Asked about her preference for shopping at late night, she said it has become her habit for the last few years to do Eid shopping at midnight.
“It has multiple benefits. Firstly, you can take a rest after iftar. The crowd would be less. And after all, you can evade high temperature on the street as it generally went down after evening. It’s very convenient for us,” she added.
She further said, “After doing our shopping today, we will have light meal and go back to our home at Banashree.”
Naimul Hasan, a businessman who lives in the city’s Gulshan area, echoed the same. He came to the shopping mall with his wife and only daughter.
“To make them happy, I have to accompany them during their shopping. And there is no convenient time for me other than this time,” he said.
Kabir, an employee at Delhi Darbar in the shopping mall, told the Business Post that their food court remains open till 2 am ahead of Eid as customers continue coming here.
The same scenario can be seen at Eastern Plaza Shopping Complex and showroom at Road No 11 in Banani as well. They keep it open till 2am.
Zara Islam, a postgraduate student had her dinner with three of her friends at Herfy. And then she went to Sultan outlet at Banani-11. “We heard that the outlet was offering discount. I already did my shopping before the dinner. And we are going to the outlet to buy clothes for my friends,” she added.
Visiting the shopping mall and markets in the capital, it has been learnt that the sellers see three types of shoppers during a day in Ramadan.
Usually, the sellers see the main stream of shoppers at the time soon after iftar. But some people prefer to go shopping after 9pm to midnight.
According to the sellers at some shopping malls and showrooms, this trend has been continuing for the last few years. Now late-night shopping has gained momentum, they said.
The noticeable feature of this customer group is that most of them come to the shop with determination of buying some certain clothes or preferable styles.
The sellers at Dhanmondi, Jigatola, Elephant Road, Bashundhara City Shopping Complex, showrooms at Mirpur Road from Mirpur-10 to Mirpur-1, said that hundreds of shoppers thronged the outlets after 9pm. And shopping generally continues from 11:30pm to 12am.
The customers are mostly jobholders and their family members, students and the people residing nearby shopping centres.
Zubair Hussain, manager of Qrius at Mirpur, told The Business Post that a good number of customers came late night as they wanted to do their shopping without any hassle.
Not only Qrius, one can see the customers till midnight at Gentle Park, Chandrabindu, Nakhshi at Mirpur-10, Bell, Twelve, Raise, Artisan, Easy Fashion at Sony Square as well.
Sabbir Ahmed Shakil, the owner of Blue outlet at Bashundhara City said, “Over 25 per cent of shoppers came around or after 9pm to 11:30pm. After the time, the number of customers becomes very low.”
Sellers at Mirpur Muktizoddha, Shah Ali and Bagdad Shopping complexes said that although they are seeing a good crowd from 9pm to 12am, the scenario will change soon.
Abdur Rashid, a seller at Bishal Fabrics in Shah Ali Complex, said that the market will remain open during the last three nights of Ramadan as the residents of the adjacent areas will throng at the time. The New Market and Mouchak areas are also expected to draw a large number of shoppers as well.
