ERODE: For people in Erode and neighbouring districts, festival shopping doesn’t seem to end on Deepavali, as is the case with most places. It in fact peaks on the next day as thousands throng the shops on RKV Road and Eswaran Kovil Street in the city to buy clothes at huge discounts of even up to 80% during the special sale held immediately after the festival.
The town, popularly known as the turmeric capital of Tamil Nadu, is also a well-known hub for readymade garments and people started crowding in front of shops as early as 3 am on Friday to make the most of the one-day fiesta. According to sources, there are close to 80 shops on the two streets that form the main market area of Erode. Over 15,000 people from Erode, Salem, Tiruppur and Coimbatore districts flocked to Erode on Friday to buy clothes at discounted prices.
‘Total sale of around Rs 10 crore at textile shops on Friday’
S V N Sankar, owner of SVN Tex, said the total sale made by shops and street vendors on Friday would have been around Rs 10 crore.
P Saravankumar, general manager of Bharani Silks, said, “We started this sale in Erode about 30 years ago based on customers’ demand. Now all the shops are following this. We started this sale with a few varieties, but now it covers all types of garments. While this special sale helps shops to clear their Deepavali stock, people stand to gain because of the huge discount.”
“We opened the shop at 3.30 am on Friday as people had already gathered in large numbers in front of the store. We closed the sale at 11 am on Friday as most of the goods sold out by then,” he added.
Sankar said, “People started gathering in front of the shops from 2.30 am on Friday. While some shops offered discounts for a few hours, others offered them for the whole day. About 50% to 80% discount was available for men's, women's and children’s clothes. The main purpose of this sale was stock clearance. As we have to stock up on fresh designs for Christmas, New Year and Pongal festivals, this special sale helps us to clear the Deepavali stock. Sometimes, the entire stock gets sold in a few hours.”
M Janagi of Kodumudi, a customer, said, “We actually did not plan to buy anything. We just came here to check out the designs, but ended up buying clothes for Rs 20,000 as the discounts were huge. The quality was also good.”