Photo: BSS

By Md Mamun Islam
 
RANGPUR, March 5, 2026 (BSS) – As Eid-ul-Fitr approaches in Rangpur city, like elsewhere in the country, low-income and middle-class people are flocking to common markets and sidewalk shops as the shopping frenzy increases rapidly.
 

Although the prices of all kinds of Eid items are high this time, there are still a lot of sales for low-income people from the sidewalk shops of various busiest intersections in the city. 

 
At the same time, business is also booming in the elite shopping malls, supermarkets, shopping centers and department stores decorated with colorful lights for effluent people.
 
 
At the same time, many floating hawkers have set up temporary mobile shops and have arranged stalls of various types of clothes and other Eid items on the main roads of the city. 
 
Many floating hawkers and seasonal traders are selling various types of clothes in their mobile rickshaw-vans too. Along with the lower class, the middle class is also flocking to these sidewalk shops. 

 
On both sides of the road from the Grand Hotel intersection to the Town Hall premises, hawkers have arranged stalls of various types of clothes including dresses, sandals, shoes, pants-shirts, three-pieces, sarees, lungis, punjabis, children's clothes, hats, and perfumes.
 

Not only on that road, but also at footpath-based shops in various parts of the city—including Shapla Square, Grand Hotel, Supermarket and Medical More, Hareepatti Road, Badarganj Road, CO Bazar and Station Road—there is a brisk sale of Eid items.
 
Most of the buyers of these footpath and make-up shops are lower and lower middle class and working class people. 
 

However, the middle class is also rushing to these footpath shops due to financial constraints for their Eid shopping. 

 
Talking to BSS this noon, Abdul Awal, who sells clothes on a rickshaw-van on the sidewalk in front of Paira Chattar, said he is selling good quality clothes on the sidewalk, although many people think differently. Their idea is not entirely correct. 
 
“We are doing good business now by selling a lot. Even if we sell clothes for a reasonable profit, it is still okay. That is why our buyers are not only for the lower class, but many middle class people also come to buy clothes,” he said.
 
“Even though Eid-ul-Fitr is almost two weeks away, sales have been good for a few days," said Mohammad Masud, a young man selling clothes on the sidewalk north of the city's Jahaz Company intersection.
 
Masud said, “Many seasonal hawkers like me sell their products in mobile vans every year before Eid-ul-Fitr. Therefore, competition is increasing on the sidewalks as well. As a result, prices are low and affordable for all classes of people."
 
Footpath trader Monirul Islam said, "The cost of running our business is much lower than that of upscale shopping malls and markets. We don't have to pay any rent or electricity bills. We can sell good quality products at affordable prices, satisfying the customers." 
 
“As a result, people from the lower and middle classes, like us, are interested in buying Eid items and other things from sidewalks and hawkers,” he added. 
 

On the sidewalk at the Supermarket intersection, Mamunur Radish, Lokman Hossain, an NGO employee said, many middle-class and lower middle-class people like him shop from shops adjacent to sidewalks or common markets. 
 
"Like every year, I came to buy some clothes for my wife, two children and a few relatives. The prices are 15 to 20 percent higher this year than last year, but still within reach at the sidewalk shops," he said. 
 
The footpath and sidewalk traders said that trading mainly starts after noon and increases after evening. 
 
Daily wage laborers Nurun Nabi and Farhad Hossain said they are poor people. They cannot go shopping in big or elite markets or shopping malls. 
 
Attractive products are also available at low prices in footpath shops, but they are still out of their reach.
 
Housewife Munni Begum of the Keranipara area in Rangpur city, said, "If you want to buy anything between Taka 150 and Taka 600, you can surely find it at the sidewalk or footpath shops.”
 
“In the elite shopping malls and markets, clothes are usually not available for less than Taka 1,500 and Taka 2,500. That is why the rhythm of the lower and middle class people like us is these sidewalks and ordinary markets,” she added.
 
Housewife Noor Jahan of the city’s Nurpur area said, “When you visit sidewalk shops, you can see that children's clothes are available for Taka 150 and Taka 250 or a little more. Young people can get all kinds of clothes for Taka 600 to Taka 1,000."
 
Rangpur Chamber President Md Emdadul Hossain Emdad said that hawkers are doing good business all over Rangpur city and region this time. 
 
“Low-income and lower middle-class people are buying Eid items at affordable prices within their reach from sidewalk hawkers in the city,” he added.