Festival fever grips city

Visakhapatnam: The city roads and market places are teeming with the festival shoppers on Friday as Sankranti is a very popular festival.  On the other hand, street vendors and shopping mall owners are trying to attract people by offering gold to attract women, car and bikes to attract the youth as bumper prizes in the lucky draw contest to cash in on festival rush.

Speaking to The Hans India here on Friday, Sridhar, HR Manager, said that the mall managements had hired people for two months ago. The managements of the malls had brought their senior marketing staff to the city from Mumbai and other cities to cash in on the season’s sale. 

Even the e-Commerce websites are giving exciting offers to the youth with maximum discounts. According ‘touch and feel concept’, youth are trying various outfits in different shades which are suitable to them with the help of brand managers in the malls.

Several youth, including college girls and women, thronged the fancy shops at Poorna Market. Most of the youth make a trip to the bigger malls and outlets at Jagadamba or Dwarka City Centres for shopping.

Trends reveal a clear preference for some special designs and a newer version of the traditional wear. No more common prints and patterns but a better cut and fit for men and new and snazzy for women. 

Be it sarees, suits or dress material, lehengas or gowns, a designer touch that sets the garment apart is the clear choice. Nothing is out of bounds for the young for whom a glittering kurti over distressed denims is a done thing for a Sankranti festival do.

The more adventurous among boys are going for ethnic and handsome kurtas over denims. The traditional wear market in the city is catering to a spectrum of tastes and people are willing to partake.

Add to this, the raining discount offers that make wearing upmarket brands more affordable. The crowd has become visibly thinner at the shops that have catered for years to the people of Visakhapatnam but haven’t jumped the retail bandwagon boom. 

Clearly left behind in the race to please shoppers, the local markets are in gloom. Sankranti is almost here and shopping lists are still long. The coming weekend will see a fever pitch of shopaholics and it is advisable to finish off yours well in time.