For this year’s Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which started last week, Target rolled out its first dedicated Ramadan and Eid collection, including decoration kits with crescent and lantern-shaped cutouts.
Ramadan decorations are displayed at a Party City store in Dearborn, Mich., on Thursday, March 23, 2023. More businesses are selling Ramadan and Eid items, including DIY kits, lanterns and napkin holders. It's one of the latest signs of big U.S. retailers catering to American Muslim shoppers.
“As stores have accommodated for Easter and Christmas for centuries, I’m glad to see them bring in Ramadan items,” said Hass Beydoun of Dearborn Heights, Michigan. “We welcome it, because they are welcoming our culture and beliefs in their stores.” Target’s new Ramadan and Eid collection is sold online and in a few hundred stores in areas with numerous Muslim shoppers. The retailer, which didn’t provide sales figures, said it received positive feedback from shoppers and that the collection is part of its commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Still, that’s a change from when Jomana Siddiqui received an Eid present in Christmas gift wrap in 2011; at the time, Siddiqui, whose business is based in Fullerton, California, said she didn’t see American retailers carrying merchandise for Ramadan or Eid. She tried to get malls and stores to put up signage acknowledging the Muslim holy days but was rebuffed.
Fatima Siddiqui, who lives in the metro Detroit area and owns a calligraphy art business, wrote on Facebook that amid the excitement at retailers carrying Ramadan decorations, community members shouldn’t forget to support Muslim-owned small businesses. The decor can spark educational conversations with non-Muslims, said Yasmen Bagh, who lives in Jersey City and has founded a business selling outdoor inflatables in such shapes as mosques and lanterns.
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