By Florence Afriyie Mensah
Kumasi, Dec. 22, GNA – As the Christmas festive season gathers momentum, there has been an increasing human and vehicular traffic at the Central Business District (CBD) and other main markets in the Kumasi Metropolis.
Most people are seen around from the early hours of the day until late night transacting business.
It has always been the norm that during this time of the month in December (18th-23rd), people are seen buying foodstuff for the house and clothes for their wards towards the festive season.
There has, been a twist in the general perception of trading activities at the CBD this year.
More people are spotted buying hamper gifts, instead of the normal food items, clothes, shoes and jewelry, which are traditionally the targets for sales for the Christmas period.
When the Ghana News Agency (GNA) visited some busy trading areas on December 22, it was uncovered that the most sought for commodities in town were hamper gifts.
Ms Evelyn Oti, a provision shop owner at Adum, said she had converted all the consumables into hamper gifts and had made sales smoother.
According to her, people who walked in preferred items like drinks, milo, milk, rice, oil, tin tomatoes and soaps wrapped as gifts during this Christmas period.
She explained that, as an old business woman, in the past seasons few buyers opted for wrapped gift items, but the demand for these hampers had shot up incredibly this year.
Some of her displayed wares were selling for as high as GH₵3,000.00 although others cost only GH₵250.00 depending on the contents.
Several other shops at the city centre were seen displaying hampers for sale with other contents, including clothes, dresses, bed sheets, shoes and bags.
Mr. Kwasi Akyena, a customer, who spoke to the GNA, said he had come to make bulk purchases of hampers to be distributed among some work colleagues.
He said buying varied items for distribution had become costly and he believed the already made hampers could cut down some cost.
Bigger shops at Adum such as Melcom and Poku Trading, all had several hundreds of hampers displayed for sales.
At the basket weavers’ base, the GNA interacted with Abass Aziz, who confirmed that since the beginning of this month, together with his colleagues, they have sold almost 3,000 pieces of baskets to some individuals and institutions.
However, to Madam Comfort Agyeiwaa, a makeup seller, business has been slow as compared to last year.
She feels there is economic hardship and that is hindering most people from visiting her beauty and cosmetic shop.
Madam Agyeiwaa attested that a parent as herself, would rather save around this period to buy provisions for her daughter who is in Senior High School (SHS).
Vendors for vegetables anticipated that consumers may troop in during the weekend when various households start to prepare delicacies for Christmas.
GNA