Street vendors are allowed to sell their goods between 8:00am to 5:00pm every Friday on specific streets of the capital. The designated places for these five holiday markets are on north side of Manik Mia Avenue, road from Matsya Bhaban to Segun Bagicha, a portion of road in front of Motijheel Ideal High School, road from Palashi intersection to Nilkhet and Shialbari slope on road to Mirpur Zoo.

A small number of street vendors showed up at the designated places to sell their products on the second day after the holiday markets were introduced. Very few transactions took place there and sellers are still confused about this new idea. Most of them turned up at the markets just to check out the situation.

"Our customers used to shop from us on their way [home or work]. On holidays, there are less pedestrians of that sort and I am not sure if this will work out," said a gaamchha seller on Manik Mia Avenue. "I don't think I will be able to cover my transportation cost today. I will not be able to recover my investment this month."

"New ideas always take time to become popular. We are advertising about the locations of the holiday markets in newspapers. I think once people start visiting these markets, these will gradually shape up," said Kamruzzaman Chowdhury, chief estate officer, Dhaka City Corporation (DCC).

"People from far away used to make special plans to shop at Bangabazar. I think it [holiday markets] will be exactly like that. They just need to accept the change," he added.

Kamrul, a t-shirt seller, said, "Holiday markets need to be set up beside New Market or any other market on holidays. Otherwise it will not draw that many customers."

Kamrul however was hopeful about future of the market on Manik Mia Avenue. "Manik Mia Avenue draws a lot of visitors in the afternoon. I think it will soon gain popularity among them"

Two of the holiday markets -- on at Palashi and the other at Shialbari -- failed to attract the street vendors.

"I live in Mirpur and which is why I wanted to check out the Shialbari holiday market. I don't know why they picked this place for a holiday market as this place is far away from the main road", said a vendor who was selling his product from a rickshaw van and was on the move.

When pointed out about selecting inconvenient places for holiday markets, Chowdhury, the chief estate officer at DCC, said, "It is difficult to find an open space or a free street in the city. We can't select a busy thoroughfare as it will again create traffic congestion. If people want to enjoy a free road, they will have to change the way they do shopping."