These fairly recent establishments represent the government's free market economic policies, and they have also considerably transformed consumer psychology, which is now more quality oriented than before. A large variety of local and foreign products are put up for sale in these malls.

The large investments required for setting up these sophisticated malls come from a variety of sources including bank loans, advances made by interested parties and remittances from abroad from parties hoping for lucrative returns on their investments.

A latest estimate puts the number of shopping outlets in Dhaka at over 360, and the number is on the rise. But prices of commodities vary from one place to another. Posh shopping malls charge higher prices due to high investment outlay, bank loan interest, salaries of employees, high maintenance costs, customs duties on imported goods, etc. Such overhead costs also push up prices of commodities at these establishments.

But still there seems to be no death of customers at these shopping malls in spite of the high prices they charge, and there are constant traffic jams in front of these places as shoppers hustle to get a parking spot.

One may wonder whether the burgeoning growth of shopping malls is any indicator of increasing purchasing power of city-dwellers in general. Economists, however, say the steady growth of shopping malls has nothing to do with the country's economic strength, and they have economic indicators to support their claim. Apart from that, there is a sharp inequality of income in a developing society like ours where the rich get richer and the poor poorer.

Another aspect of these lavish malls is that they feature a plethora of imported goods. Under the circumstances, indigenous products take a beating. The end result is that left to the market forces, such posh shopping facilities caters to the need of the elite who have a lot of surplus money to spend for non-essential items.