If you haven’t yet bought that matching pair of Kolhapuri to travel along with your ‘Panjabi and Dhuti’, you must try Binsul Haat for a change. Popularly also refer as ‘juto bazaar’, at Paddapukur on CIT Road, it’s a rare flourishing haat within the south of the town.

Over a century old, it was once referred to as chamra haat (leather bazaar). After the shifting of the factory from east Calcutta to Bantala, the traders here quickly switched from leather to finished products like shoes, chappals, bags, belts, and raw materials.

Birsul Haat is not just the most unique wholesale marketplace for shoes catering to retailers and individual buyers but also a shoemaker’s delight for accessories and materials like leather, soles, adhesives, rexine, rubber, and cobbler tools. It’s to footwear what Metiabruz is to decorative and clothing materials.

The number of traders within the haat varies from 1,000 to 1,200. primarily, bootmakers, their mass produce units at Tantibagan, Topsia, Rajabazar, and College Street. Like a typical haat, the market starts early from 5 am and continues till noon. Before the pujas and Eid, business hours extend till 8 pm in the evening.

Birsul  Haat also supplies to stores within the city and districts. The haat mainly caters to the center and lower-middle classes, who cannot afford a Bata, Reebok, or Nike. Here a pair of Kolhapuri chappals are often picked up from Rs 45 to Rs 150, whereas a pair of shoes will cost between Rs 170 to Rs 1,500.

Shoes and chappals are sold at almost throwaway prices, making it a cheerful hunting ground for traders from the suburbs and far-flung districts round for traders from the suburbs and far-flung districts.