Gold and silver weren’t the only things that glittered on Dhanteras shopping lists. Metro highlights the biggest draws of the festive buying frenzy, from large-screen televisions to Land Rovers.
Big is the buzz this Dhanteras and televisions with screens 40 inches wide and above are the flavour of the shopping season.
Bijoy Ghosh, an employee at the Dalhousie outlet of Great Eastern, said the store had sold more than 600 TVs over the past couple of days. More than 300 of these were 40-inch models or larger. Sony and Samsung have led the brandwagon, the fascination for a “theatre-like experience at home” and an increase in buying capacity being the driving force behind the demand.
“Watching Lionel Messi go past defenders on a 56-inch screen is unbelievable,” gushed Sreyansh Jain, a Class XI student trying to choose a TV with his parents at a store in E-Mall on Central Avenue. In just two days, Khosla Electronics sold more than 3,000 large-screen TVs through its outlets.
When it comes to choosing a smartphone, premium it is for most buyers. Ask Mohit Jindal, a 25-year-old executive at Wipro who got engaged a few months ago and wanted to gift his fiancee Sweta Dugar a phone when she visited his place for the first time on Friday evening. “Lakshmi is coming to our house. What better way to receive her than with a rose gold iPhone 7?” he told Metro.
Demand for the iPhone 7 has outstripped supply, according to Sanjay Chordia, the owner of five Imagine stores across the city. “Sales of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus in Calcutta are on a par with the best stores in India,” he said.
Hotelier Gopal Das Agarwal gifted his daughter Shree one. “Traditionally, we give gold or silver as gifts. This time, my daughter (a Class X student) said that since we are living in digital India, we should get her an iPhone 7! It’s a metal phone, elegant and at the same time sturdy,” said the 45-year-old.
Vedant Agarwal of Lexus Motors, the Jaguar Land Rover showroom on AJC Bose Road, couldn’t have sported a broader smile on Dhanteras. “We delivered seven cars today with an even mix of Jaguars and Land Rovers,” he told Metro.
For Mercedes, the numbers have been the same as Dhanteras 2015. “We had 14 deliveries,” said an official at Interkrafts. Porsche sold three cars — two Cayennes and a Panamera — on Friday.
Sales in the premium and budget family car segments saw a spike too. Honda delivered 50 cars, including the Amaze, City and BR-V, said Sanjay Lamba of Pinnacle Honda. Toyota sold 35 cars with an equal mix of the new Innova Crysta and the Etios range. Bhandari Automobiles, the Maruti dealer, had 160 deliveries lined up, while Mohan Motors, the Hyundai dealer, sold 121 vehicles.
It was Ae Dil Hai Mushkil all the way for Bolly buffs on Dhanteras, with the Karan Johar film opening to packed houses. “We ended Friday with an average footfall of 85 per cent,” said Subhasis Ganguli, regional director (east), INOX.
Schoolboys Vedant Murarka and Yash Surana, who caught a morning show of the Ranbir Kapoor-Anushka Sharma-Aishwarya Rai Bachchan-Fawad Khan film on friendship and love at INOX City Centre, couldn’t stop gushing about their favourite. “Ranbir’s look and acting are fabulous,” said Vedant.
Aayushi Parasrampuria, who too watched a morning show with mother Monika and sister Mahak, “loved” the Ranbir-Anushka track, as well as the cameo by heart-throb Fawad. Encouraged by the Friday footfall, INOX has increased the number of shows.
Reporting by Anasuya Basu, Mathures Paul, Priyanka Roy Debraj Mitra and Snehal Sengupta
