Footpath vendors doing brisk business

Islamabad: As the Eidul Fitr festivities are gaining momentum, sale at the footpath stalls has reached its peak all across the twin cities like rest of the country as the low-income and poor people are crowding makeshift footpath stalls for buying things at cheaper rates.

Most of the footpaths in the busy areas have been filled with makeshift shops, targeting Eid shoppers for making brisk business during the Eid shopping frenzy. Makeshift shops on the footpaths are also experiencing large crowds, mainly of the lower-and middle-income-group people.

Shopping at the footpath stalls entails hassles of bargaining. But a good number of shops at these places are now selling clothes at a fixed price. Arshad Ali, who had come to buy Eid dress for his child, said, one shouldn’t look down upon the footpath shops. “Good products are available here at a cheap rate,” he added. Makeshift vendors along roads said the footpath business has gained momentum every day during the first half of Ramazan, which usually multiplied in the last seven days of the fasting month.

Every year before Eid festival, the well to do families crowd the mega shopping malls and centres in the city’s posh areas while the low-income group throngs footpath shops to purchase their desired items, said a citizen, Javed Ghazanfer. The lower-income people go to footpath shops to buy a variety of items on the occasion of the festival, as they cannot buy expensive items from the posh malls, said the Faiza Abass, another buyer. Yasira Ikram said, “We are buying things from these stalls at cheap rates for celebrating the Eid with my near and dear.” Another buyer, Bushra Irum said “We come to the footpath for Eid shopping as the prices of items are cheap comparing to markets and shopping centres.”