Shoppers at (above) Hatibagan and (below) Gariahat.

Space was at a premium in the city’s shopping districts as people smiled their way through frenzied buying on the penultimate Sunday before Puja.

Hatibagan in the north, Gariahat in the south and the all-time favourite New Market were teeming with shoppers.

Cars crawled and traffic snarls stretched up to a few hundred metres in front of the shopping centres.

Metro went from one market to another, speaking to the shoppers and shopowners.

New Market

Not a single shop empty. Not a single empty seat in any eatery.

A sea of people surged towards New Market all day. Traffic cops had to stop people with ropes at multiple points on Chowringhee Road to make way for shoppers to reach Lindsay Street.

Hawkers called out to shoppers and those interested in taking a look stopped wherever they stood, unmindful of the pushing, shoving and nudging. In the true spirit of Puja shopping, no one complained if someone stepped on their toe, which was quite often.

Food stops were a must. Father and daughter Bikash and Reshmi Sinha were seen sharing a plate of piping hot momos in front of a Lindsay Street kiosk. “We shopped till we dropped and now we are very hungry,” smiled Reshmi, a Baruipur resident.

For Birati resident Sangeeta Roy, New Market is the go-to place for accessories. “I picked up belts and earrings and will now head to a mall to buy some T-shirts,” Roy said.

Gariahat

Maitreyee Paul, a resident of Delhi, was out sari-shopping with her septuagenarian mother Pratima and daughter Moumi.

“If it is saris you want, then nothing beats Gariahat,” Maitreyee said.

Ratan Kumar Saha, one of the owners of Traders Assembly, said sales had picked up since last week.

“Business has finally picked up. We have had to hire extra hands to handle the rush,” Saha said.

Hatibagan

Cars crawled from the Gouribari flyover as shoppers made a beeline for Hatibagan since afternoon.

Every stall on the pavements were crowded. Nearly all the apparel and shoe shops had queues outside them.

“We come here every year. I am looking for kurtas for myself and saris for my wife,” said Arko Chakraborty of Barasat.