T'is the Eid Season

I can personally attest that Eid shopping is just like Christmas shopping, only without the repetitive, sickly cheerful music playing for a month and a half straight (how many country music versions of Santa Claus is Coming to Town does one need anyway?)
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Last-minute Eid shoppers throng malls for best buys

Published: Thursday, 11 October, 2007, 01:50 AM Doha Time

Eid shopping in full swing

Staff Reporter
ELEVENTH hour rush was seen at all major shopping outlets in Doha as the holy month of Ramadan draws to a close and Eid al-Fitr is expected to be celebrated tomorrow or the day after.
From supermarkets to hypermarkets, traditional souqs to glitzy shopping malls, people are thronging the places to buy new apparels and gift items for their loved ones and the holiday season.
Major hypermarkets like Carrefour, LuLu, Safeer, Dasman, Family Food Centre, Food Palace and others have set up specially designated areas offering confectionery and candies. Retailers have followed suit by coming out with tempting bargains and deals on clothing, electronic and other gift items.
“People tend to wait during the weekdays and wrap up their usual work, before stepping out for Eid shopping,” said Ahmad, who owns a kiosk at the City Center Doha.
“From Thursday, you will start to see the frenzy,” added Ahmad, who hoped the slow Ramadan sales period will come to break-even with higher Eid sales.
Estelle Pace, a salesgirl offering perfumes at a shop located in another mall, agreed with Ahmad, but explained why this year’s Eid shopping was slow in taking off: “This year’s Ramadan started right after the summer vacations, and the returning expatriates had to clear the back-log of rents, children’s school fees and then spend whatever was left on commodities which have become dearer.”
Expressing no surprise at less number of shoppers, Pace added: “Traffic snarls and rent-driven inflation could be the other reasons why shoppers are a bit hesitant in coming out and spending money this year.” For the last-minute shoppers ‘all roads lead to malls’, no matter how chaotic the traffic or how tight their pockets are, another shopkeeper said.
“It took me 35 minutes just to find parking near the LuLu Centre in Al Sadd area last evening, and to make it worst, the place was swamped, “ said an exhausted Waleed, who was shopping with his family.
“It is pretty much the same with the souq areas as well, since I had to wait another 45 minutes to pass the road parallel to Souq Ahmad,” Waleed said.
Surprisingly, there was no traffic police manning the roads during my three hours of ‘shopping stint’, Waleed said.
Ismail, an Egyptian, who was coming out of a popular shopping plaza near the bank street, had a satisfied look on his face. “The place inside was crowded, but I can not think of celebrating Eid without buying gifts and clothes for the near and dear ones, barring all the talk of high living costs.”
But to some, traffic was a lesser evil compared to high inflation, resulting in low purchasing power during this Eid.
Voicing her concern, a lady teacher of an expatriate school said: “Just last week, we bought four litres of a popular cooking oil for QR27, which jumped to QR32 the very next day. “Fruits, yoghurt and other items have also become costlier.”
“With unaffordable house rents, three hours of travel time and commodities and clothes getting costlier, what do you want me to buy for Eid. No thanks, I’ll pass,” she added.