Puja shopping gathers pace in Guwahati city

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: With Durga Puja round the corner, shopping for the festival picked up pace in the city on Monday, although the traditional pre-festival hustle and bustle of shoppers is yet to reach its peak in established market areas of the city such as Fancy Bazar, Lakhtakia, Paltan Bazar, Ganeshguri etc.

It is pertinent to note that this is the first Durga Puja which will witness full-fledged celebrations after the Covid-19 pandemic threw normal life out of gear in 2019. However, with less than a week left before Durga Puja starts, the last few days had witnessed scanty presence of shoppers in the market areas of the city, but the tempo picked up today.

Taking to The Sentinel, a section of shopkeepers of these areas attributed the comparatively low footfall of pre-Puja shoppers till now to multiple factors. They said that one reason is that prices of garments, footwear, cosmetics etc., have risen by around 40 per cent at the source markets in Delhi, Ludhiana, Mumbai and Kolkata. Moreover, the popularity on online shopping has also had an adverse effect on roadside markets.

The traders, however, expressed the hope that Puja shopping will gather more momentum in the next few days.

Also Read:  Market upbeat in the run-up to Durga Puja in Guwahati

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