KARACHI, June 10: Thousands of shoppers on Friday afternoon flocked to the Expo Centre where All about lifestyles, a three-day exhibition organized by the Dawn Group of Newspapers, opened amid fanfare.

At least 150 exhibitors put up 145 stalls in all the four halls of the Expo Centre. A spokesman for the organizers said that 80 per cent of the exhibitors had been consistently taking part in the exhibition since its inception in April 2001. This is the seventh All about lifestyles exhibition organized by the group. The spokesman said the exhibition had over the years become a major consumer interaction event.

Programmes of City FM89, a popular radio station, were aired in the Expo Centre as shopping enthusiasts, mostly women carrying more than one bag, had a whale of a time purchasing an array of consumer goods and haggling over their prices.

Forty-five eateries set up stalls in the area outside the halls to establish a food court where weary shoppers helped themselves to a variety of foodstuffs, including deep-fried chicken pieces to kebabs.

Not interested in shopping, children accompanying their parents made a beeline for a section where, in addition to being entertained by a presenter, they could take part in a number of games.

But what turned out to be a real crowd-puller was a bird show organized by a Karachi-based entrepreneur, Mumtaz Shamim. One of the birds on display was a three-year-old red-tailed cockatoo with a beautiful erectile crest. Mr Shamim explained that the bird was found in Australia, eastern Indonesia and neighbouring islands. Other 33 colourful birds included various types of macaws — all bred locally — especially ruby macaws and scarlet macaws.

A pet show will be held on Saturday and a flower show on Saturday and Sunday.

As part of an environment awareness campaign, the organizers sold T-shirts whose proceeds would go to the Save The Turtle Project and would be employed to build hatcheries at Hawkesbay. Cartoons by Feica were put up in a corridor at the Gallery section. The Books & Authors section in a hall was also visited by book lovers interested in the newly published titles being sold by various publishing houses at the Expo Centre.