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Al-Ahram Weekly 17 - 23 February 2000 Issue No. 469 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 17 - 23 February 2000 Issue No. 469
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Focus Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Cut-price fashion
HAVE you bought your winter wardrobe yet? If you haven't then now is a good time, writes Niveen Wahish.
Winter sales began last week and are scheduled to continue until mid-March. And many of the best discounts are to be found on clothes, especially women's wear, with cuts ranging from 20 to 50 per cent. Consumer goods carry less dramatic discounts, usually around five per cent, while household items such as bed-linen, blankets, table and kitchenware may be had for up to 15 per cent less than normal. The best places to shop are downtown Cairo and Roxy Square in Heliopolis.
Children are less fortunate, with very few shops discounting children's clothing. The few which have, though, were crammed with customers last weekend. Fathia Soliman, a mother of three children aged two, five and ten, likes "to shop during the sale for outfits for the children and then keep them for the following year".
Maha Youssef, a university student, adopts the same approach. "I don't really care if I wear this year's models next year," she said. "I buy a couple of out-fits during the discount season to last until the following year."
While some shop-owners are happy with the crowds turning out for the sales, others are less so. In Rifaat Mohsen's shop in Roxy, there were queues outside the changing rooms. But for Tarek Hammouda, owner of a shop in downtown Cairo, the sale season has proved something of a disappointment. "It's not been as busy as usual," he says, blaming the downturn on the fact that the sales this year have come soon after Ramadan and Eid, two events that eat up a great deal of most families' budgets. In addition, he says, "during the school year, private lessons account for the bulk of family spending, leaving very little over to be spent on items such as clothes". He hopes the summer sales will fare better.
Photo: Khaled El-Fiqi
