Mall road Sunday market ‘shopping mall’ for poor

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 11

The Sunday market on the footpath of the colonial era Mall road has become a “shopping mall” for the people from the lower-economic group.

The temporary market that offers male, female and children’s apparel and accessories comes up only on Sunday on this stretch, which connects the Batala road.

Of late, the phenomenon of a day market has caught the fancy of people who find a range of items, including kitchenware, a huge assortment of plastic items, ready made garments, footwear, assorted cosmetic items like bangles, clips, etc, at a given place to choose from and at cheaper rates.

Rakesh, a young vendor, who sells cosmetics, says, “We do not have resources to invest heavily to open a shop, so we are left only with the option to put up temporary shops and wind these up at night.” He said most of the items on display, he and his family procured from small factories in Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana.

In order to keep expenses under check, they ferry the material themselves.

A customer, Bhushan, said he came to buy winter apparel for his two-year-old son. He said his wife and he come to buy clothes, cosmetics and kitchen accessories from this market, as the rates were reasonable. He said the spiralling inflation had made established markets out of the reach of people earning their livelihood by physical labour.

Day markets are mushrooming in the city to lure customers from the lower end of society. Known as the common man’s roadside markets, they have sprung up on various streets of the city, especially on Sundays and Mondays, when the main markets remain shut.

The phenomenon has caught the fancy of the people to meet their requirements for household needs.

Wholesale cloth and shawl markets at Tahli Sahib, Shastri Bazaar, Cash Dhara Bazaar and Katra Ahluwalia remain closed on every Monday. It gives ample space to vendors to instal their counters on these secluded roads to lure customers. Here counters are also installed by employees of wholesale shops to increase their income.

On Sunday, the market is also held inside the Hall gate on the stretch leading to the Rambagh gate.