Team Herald
PANJIM: The skyrocketing price on petrol, diesel and gas cylinders and eventual in almost all items didn’t deter the ‘Dhanteras’’ shopping spree of the crowd in Goa. All streets leading to market in Panjim remained blocked due to heavy traffic. Even heavy showers late in the evening in Panjim, which also destroyed many ‘Narkasur’ idols on the streets, could not stop the buyers to make it to the stores and Malls.
Jewellers’ shops remained most crowded place as the shoppers believed that buying jewellery on ‘Dhanteras’ is supposed to be auspicious. Alka Saxena visiting such shop in Panjim said, “This is auspicious day for all. Yes, the prices have gone high but we have budgeted all our purchase and travel for this day. ”
Sales of jewellery on Tuesday shot up by 20 per cent. “We are having brisk sales and buyers are queuing up to purchase jewellery and believe me the average ticket sales (average sale per person) have gone up drastically and people are buying. They are simply not bothered about the price hike in petrol and diesel,” said a manager in a popular jewellery shop in Panjim.
In a utensil shop at Panjim the shopkeeper said that people are buying but the business is not as much as it was during the pre-pandemic days. “We are getting business but due to price rise in fuel, prices of all items have soared. We are still getting good number of buyers and especially today (Tuesday) as it happens to be Dhanteras,” said Umesh Gurav a shop owner of utensils in St. Inez, Panjim.
One of the buyers Ajay Shirodkar, who was out to do some shopping for the coming festive season, said, “Yes, the prices have gone high but people are managing by adjusting their budget. The average basket size may be small but the volume is large and people are buying. In fact, the government, both the Union and State should consider bringing the taxes and prices of fuel down and help the common public, especially when all of us have gone though a very bad phase in our life.”
Partner in a sweet shop Big Mishra Peda, Ajay Rajpurohit said, “We are having good sale today. In fact, three days ago just opened a yet another outlet in Old Goa. People for last few days are buying sweets in big quantity to gift to their near and dear ones. Today being a Dhanteras the retail counter sale has gone up by 20-25 per cent and as compared to last year same time the rise is about 40 per cent.”