Garment stores enjoy brisk business during New Year

Lumbini Edirisinghe

Leading fashion garment stores in the country had brisk business during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year period.

“This year’s Sinhala and Tamil New Year was better than the last festive season in December. Sales were not good in January and February but picked up after March,” said Manager, Beverly Street Shiy Mohomed.

‘Since we import garments the prices depend on taxes,” he said.

A woman selects garments at a stall in Colombo. Picture by Sumanachandra Ariyawansa

However, we have increased our customer base each year. Though we focus on customers who come in vehicles to the Kollupitiya branch, there were more customers at the Nugegoda branch,” he said.

Chief Operating Officer Odel, Arjuna Samarathunge told Daily News Business that there were good sales at their Odel branches in Kohuwela and Nugegoda for the festive season.

“We sell about 50,000 items which includes garments and textiles in our shops and the most sought after local brands were Odel branded garments, LICC, Middle Finger and Carlot items.

“We had more foreign buyers last year compared to this year and we saw a decline in this segment. With the global recession set to settle down soon we expect better times and are optimistic about next year,” he said.

“There was a growth in sales at our Kandy branch and we noticed that even the Western Province did not show such rapid growth this festive season,” said General Manager, Fashion Bug Saroj Lamahewa.

“We have twelve branches islandwide and we have achieved our targets this year. People give more priority to buy essential things compared to clothes,” he said.

Compared to last year they had increased their prices slightly due to taxation and cess. “We import garments from China, Indonesia, Hongkong, Thailand and India which provides fashionable garments to the Fashion Bug chain, he said.

“However, we are optimistic about next year and expect the global economy to bounce back to normal,” he said.

Marketing Manager, Nolimit, A.M.L Akeel said there was an increase in credit card usage for the festive season this year when compared to previous years”, “Most of the garments sold in our stores are imported from Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Hong Kong and India”, he said.