18/3/2018
PUNE: The
fragrance will catch your attention even before you can see the shop, and once
there, the beautiful and intricate vials and bottles will captivate you. The
quaint charms of attar shops have attracted customers for ages, and they
will continue to do so.
In the city, attar shops thrive. Even branded perfumes and deodorants are not
able to snuff out their business. In fact, in recent times, more people
are rediscovering the benefits of natural and organic attars.
The use of attar, or perfumes made from essential oils has been going up due to
their therapeutic benefits. “Synthetic perfumes only have the fragrance
but attars are made using natural essential oils, which offer therapeutic
benefits to the user. Many people have again started using attar,” said Shreyas
Sugandhi of Vitthaldas Narayandas and Sons, one of the oldest attar stores in
the city.
Established in 1883, VN and Sons started out selling spices
and attar. “The store was established by my great-grandfather Manmohandas
Sugandhi. Over the years, we expanded our business to include hand-rolled
incense sticks and pooja items. Once the synthetic perfumes hit the market, the
use of attar diminished. Attar is used for deities, and people do not
compromise when it comes to religious traditions,” said Sugandhi.
Over the last few years, attars have also found admirers
abroad. “Knowing that attar is a natural perfume, many foreigners come to our
store. Through word of mouth, awareness about attars and their benefits have
spread,” Sugandhi said.
Nadeem Yakub Attar of Goodluck Perfumers and Jahagirdar
Agarbatti Company said over the years, the attar market in the city has become
more organised. “The competition has increased. While there were two or three
attar makers in the city about 100 years ago, now there are many. Attar was
first sold loose, but now we have launched Ajwa, our attar brand which is sold
in proper bottles,” he said.
“With natural attar, we also sell synthetic perfumes at our
store. Apart from that, the incense sticks business is also doing very well and
we sell our products Abhiman and Chintan across the country. The business was
started nearly 100 years ago by our grandfather Abdul Qadar Attar. Today,
two of my brothers and me are running it. We have managed to expand the
business and launch new products every year,” he said.
Sugandhi and Attar believe
the new-popularity of attar will ensure that the manufacturers flourish for a
long time to come.
0 comments:
Post a Comment