City gears up for Amaravati shopping festival

- Textile, furniture, mobile traders to offer cash discounts or gifts to woo customers
- Customers may get cash discounts on purchase of furniture, readymade garments and gifts on purchase of mobiles
- Krishna district administration to host Amaravati shopping festival from Oct 1 to 28 in Vijayawada to promote tourism and shopping

Vijayawada: Various trade organisations in Vijayawada, the commercial capital of State, are gearing up for the Amaravati shopping festival to be hosted by Vijayawada city from October 1 to 28. The traders decided to offer cash discounts and gifts to the customers to mark the Amaravati shopping festival.

Thousands of customers who will be on buying spree during the Dasara festival, may be benefited with cash discounts and gifts to be offered by the trading community.

After successful hosting of Krishna Pushkaralu, the district administration is now gearing up to host shopping festival in order to promote trade and tourism in the city.

The District Collector, Babu A, and Sub-Collector Srijana have already held discussions with the traders of the city to make the shopping festival a grand success.

The trading community responded positively and now decided to offer discounts to woo the customers and promote business atmosphere in the city.

Mobile traders, furniture dealers, jewellery traders, textile traders and others are planning to give discounts to the customers.

Furniture Dealers Association president E Damodara Rao said the furniture dealers had decided to offer 20 per cent discount to the customers to mark the Amaravati shopping festival. He said the customers can visit the furniture shops and can avail the discounts.

Incidentally, Dasara is also celebrated in the city from October 1 to 11. Many customers buy some new products during the Dasara festival, which is the biggest festival in the city. Mobile shop owners who make business worth crores of rupees in the city, too have decided to offer gifts and discounts to the customers.

Shaik Rafiq Ahamed, secretary of the Vijayawada Cell Phone Dealers Association said the dealers were hosting meetings to decide on the offers and discounts to be made during Amaravati festival. He said some dealers have so far decided to offer gifts to the customers and a decision would be taken in a day or two on cash discounts to be offered. He felt events like Amaravati shopping festival would be useful to the customers.

Textile readymade traders too decided to offer cash discount up to 30 per cent to mark Amaravati shopping festival.

The Vijayawada Readymade Garments Merchants Association secretary, K Rajakishore, said nearly 80 retail traders located in Besant Road and MG Road decided to offer cash discount up to 30 per cent.

He said some traders decided to decorate the shops and illuminate with lighting during the four week-long festival.

Readymade textile shops are packed with customers during Dasara in the city. Now, Amaravati festival can boost business.

The Bezawada Jewellers and Buillion Merchants Association joint secretary, K S Satyanarayana, has said the association has sent a circular to the members about the Amaravati shopping festival and it would be up to the shop owners to offer discounts to the customers.

He said the small jewellery traders may or not afford cash discounts to the customers because their profit margin is very less. Several hundred traders in the city illuminated their shops with lighting during Krishna Pushkaralu and now again gearing up to decorate their shops with same spirit and enthusiasm.