Lockdown forces Khan Mkt joints to shut shop
nNEW DELHI: As the Capital has started opening up gradually after three months of a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19, several popular shops, restaurants and book stores have been forced to shut as a result of the losses incurred due to the prolonged closure.
Last week, three stores in south Delhi’s upscale Khan Market decided to close down or curtail operations, being unable to bear the high rents, salaries of employees and the estimates of future operations. The stores included a two-decade old cafe and bookstore, Full Circle and Cafe Turtle, an Asian restaurant, Side Wok and another barbeque restaurant, Smokeys BBQ and Grill.
Priyanka Malhotra, owner of Full Circle and Cafe Turtle, said it was after several rounds of negotiations with the Khan Market Traders’ Association and the
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National Restaurant Association of India that they decided to pull down the shutters.
The concept of this bookstorecum-cafe which started business in 1998, from shop number 5 and later moved to shop number 23, was to allow avid readers a place to spend their afternoons and evenings flipping pages while sipping their cuppas and slicing into their famous date and carrot cakes.
“It was not an easy decision. It was a legacy and you don’t give that up till things really get difficult. There were several questions that we needed to answer, going ahead how do we maintain social distancing in a bookstore that has a cafe, how do we manage the rent when we were not making a single penny and most importantly how do we ensure that our staff and customers remain safe,” Malhotra said.
She, however, clarified that the bookstore has two more branches in Greater Kailash-1 N-block and Nizamuddin East, which will remain open.
Two other popular food joints have made an exit from Khan Market. Sidewok, an Asian cuisine restaurant, has been running from the market for nearly 16 years while it has been around six years since Smokeys BBQ and Grill opened its outlet here.
Both decided to shut down operations because of high rents and the added financial liabilities. Sidewok initially had two branches in the same market, one in shop number 45 and another in number 19. It eventually closed its operations from shop 45 and moved to shop number 19. Smokeys was located in shop 51.
Sidewok refused to reply to e-mail queries and the questionnaire sent to Smokeys remained unanswered.
Anshu Tondon, president of the Khan Market Traders’ Association, said that they tried to negotiate between the owners of the restaurants and the landlords. “It was truly heartbreaking. It has understandably become difficult for businesses to continue operations. Many of these restaurants serve dishes that require dining in and cannot be delivered through a takeaway service. Many landlords here are senior citizens and they depend on what they get as rents from here, so they would not agree to negotiate much,” Tondon said.
He said that there were more establishments that were negotiating the terms of rent with their landlords but did not elaborate.
In Connaught Place too, businesses are facing difficulties.
Atul Bhargava, president of New Delhi Traders’ Association (NDTA), said, “Restaurants that served 100 can only seat 20-25 people now. The business has taken a major hit. The government must announce some financial package to help them,” he said.