Winter is raging all over the country. As part of that, people in Gazipur are also feeling severe cold. Although there is no cold wave now, people in this region have been feeling quite cold due to dense fog.
Traveling old warm cloth merchants of Gazipur were happy to see winter coming early this year as most of their clothes are sold during the cold or foggy days. The business of warm clothes usually flourishes in winter.
However, this time in Gazipur, even though severe winter has already started, the opposite scenery is being noticed in the business of warm clothes. Traders are seeing the Corona epidemic as the main reason behind the fall in winter cloth sell. So this year winter has not brought happiness for winter cloth traders.
Visiting the markets recently, it was seen that old and new winter cloth shops are sitting next to the busiest roads in front of Gazipur Crossroads, Joydebpur Bazar, Shivbari Junction, Rajbari Road Railway Station, and at Municipal Market. But, there was not a lot of crowd to be seen near.
Md. Abdul Halim (40), a worm cloth trader at Gazipur Crossroads said, he has been doing this business for about 18 years. His village home is in Jajira Upazila of Shariatpur district. This year, their business has
come to a standstill due to Corona. Last year they saw a bloom in business, but this year the financial condition of the people is not very good because of Corona, so the business reduced about 50%.
He further said that this year they had to buy goods at a much higher price, so they are compelled to sell them at higher prices. Compared to last year, this time the price of each winter cloth was about Tk 50-100 less. So they have to sell clothes worth Tk 100 to the buyers for Tk 150-200. But the number of buyers in the shops is very low, so the sale is also not so good. They could sell goods worth about Tk 4,000 to 5,000 per day on avarage last winter and now they are hardly able to sell goods worth Tk 500 to 1,500 a day.
Md. Sohrab Hossain, the largest trader of old and new warm clothes under the incomparable supermarket near the bus stand at the crossroads, said, "This year, the sell of winter clothes is not good at all. Last year I sold goods worth Tk 40 to 50 thousand per day and the shop had 8 to 10 employees. But, now it has become difficult for me to pay the shop rent and staff’s salary. I used to bring clothes from Dhaka every week, but this year the clothes I brought 2 months ago are not completely sold yet”.
Abu Naser, a warm cloth seller at Aryan Clothing, said, “We sell everything ranging from baby warm clothes to adult warm clothes. And the number of sales per day stood at Tk 70 to 80 thousand earlier. However, this year, due to Corona, the sales of our shop stands only at Tk 5 thousand”.
When asked about the reason for the reduction in sale, he said, "Winter has approached, but people's incomes have declined due to the corona, and the winter clothing market in Gazipur has run out of buyers. They are turning their backs on the market this time due to their financial condition”.