Eid cards, a relic of the past

Do you remember the days when you would buy Eid greeting cards in bulk from Archie’s or Hallmark? Eid-Ul-Azha is almost here but Rashed Jony, a salesperson at a Hallmark outlet in Dhaka says not a sngle Eid card has been sold this year. Over the last three years, Hallmark did not print any Eid cards since demand plummeted. The Hatirpool outlet of Hallmark displays cards from 2014. They languish as people have forgotten or cast aside a once-cherished tradition of exchanging greeting cards. Hallmark is not the only one in suffering. Archie’s knows the same agony. Nur Hossain, a senior salesperson at Archie’s told the Dhaka Tribune that the scene was quite different just 10 years ago. He has been working at Archie’s for the past five years after 14 years with Hallmark. “When I started working at Hallmark, it was the golden age of holiday greeting cards. People would line up outside the store to buy cards for their friends and families. Nowadays, it has fallen out of favour. Texting, online messaging and e-cards are the new trend among today’s generations,” Nur lamented. Azad Products, Bangladesh’s leading greeting card manufacturer, faces difficulty as their customer base has greatly diminished. Their years of experience and valued customer base could not prevent sales from falling. These days, Azad Products still prints cards but only when corporate or government offices place special orders. Aysha Akter Jhumur, manager of Azad Products, said: “There is no profit in printing Eid cards as people prefer e-cards to the classic printed cards.” “About 10-15 years ago, students from schools and colleges would buy Eid cards for each other but now those days are gone,” She added.