KOCHI: With Thiruvonam almost on the doorstep, Broadway witnessed a huge rush of last-minute shoppers. According to merchants, unlike last year, this Onam season has seen good business.
Roy K P, who owns a store in the market, said the season has seen the lanes cross-crossing Broadway bustling with shoppers. “Textile stores and shops selling Maveli outfits and gift items are the ones with most customers. Now, with the schools closed for Onam holidays, the crowd has grown bigger,” he said.
Textile trader Saju K said, “The lanes have been facing traffic blocks every day. In fact, nearly every shop in the market has been getting a good number of customers since the start of August. And the merchants here are positive that they would make good money by the end of the Onam season.”
Roy said, besides wholesalers, the retailers too have been getting a lot of business since the start of the week. The rush is now shifting to the vegetable market as well.
“Another positive for shoppers this time is the fact that the prices of vegetables have not gone up drastically,” Saju said. The season has brought new trends too to Broadway. Though pookkalams (floral carpets) made of fresh flowers are the ones that gel with the spirit of the festival, more and more people are turning to alternatives.
“The main reason is that fresh flowers are costlier. And making pookkalams every day for the 10 days of Onam would sit heavily on the pockets. So, this time around, the number of people opting for readymade pookkalams has seen a surge. I sold more than 100 artificial pookkalams, created using cloth. They come in attractive designs and are durable,” Roy added.
Besides Broadway Market, the malls and textile showrooms in the city saw a rush of shoppers since the last week of August. Saju said the last-minute dash by people to make certain that all things have been purchased boosted the sales on Wednesday and Thursday.
There was brisk business at vegetable markets too.