Colours, balloons, colourful wigs, pichkaris — everything you need for a blast this Holi (March 18) is flying off the shelves at Old Delhi’s Sadar Bazar, and shopkeepers say they can’t be happier. “Do saal baad logon ko hausla aaya hai ki iss saal Holi ache se manayenge, toh ab chhodenge nahin khelna. So business is booming this year,” says Bharat Bhushan, a shopkeeper from the wholesale market.
With high sales, most of the fancy products are already running out of stock, share shopkeepers. “Sab maal almost bik gaya hai. We had T-shirts with slogans reading, ‘Happy Holi’, ‘Rang Barse’. We have colour tanks with popular cartoon characters too,” says Sohail, a shopkeeper, from the market. “Colourful T-shirts with slogans such as, ‘Rang Barse’, ‘Holi ki Toli’, ‘Bura Na Mano Holi Hai’ are much in demand this year,” adds Dayal Das, another shopkeeper.
Hot selling products such as wigs and bands with ‘Happy Holi’ slogans are catching the fancy of buyers. “Maal nahi hai iss time, par business sahi hai. Kaam badiya chal raha hai. Gulal is selling fast. We even had ‘Happy Holi’ hair bands for parties, which are nearly sold out,” says Pandit ji, a shopkeeper. “We had plastic magic glass, jisme paani daalo toh colours aa jate hain. We also have cylinders which pop out fragrant gulal, and is priced at ₹1,250 each,” chimes in Harpreet Singh, another shopkeeper.
“Prices of all the items have gone up, and that of pichkaris has doubled this year! We have pichkaris starting from ₹120. But people are buying them in bulk, despite the hike,” says Kaleram, a vendor. Though sales are high, some sellers say supply has been less due to the lockdowns last year. “Hence, the rates of the products are a bit higher than usual this year,” adds Mukesh Babbar, another shopkeeper.
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