Glad to open; butt-s hi rts,pyja mas all they sell as of now
Among shops allowed to open after a long over-twomonth restriction on their functioning, are cloth stores. They are glad to be back in business, though sales are bleak and survival a struggle.
Shop owners in busy market areas like that of Lokandwala, Colaba Causeway and Hindmata market in Dadar say they have not seen such poor footfalls in decades - not even during periods of economic recessions. Most say people now come in only to buy essential home-wear clothes - T-shirts, track pants, pyjamas.
With gatherings of over 50 people not allowed presently and the lockdown being imposed during the wedding season of April and May, shopkeepers are stuck with the high-range occasion wear.
“People say show lowrange clothes,” says Suresh K Satra, proprietor of Sagar Collections which has kurtis and occasion-wear. His store is located in Nadco shopping centre, a popular shopping centre near Andheri station. Most of his customers are those who work in Andheri and live in suburbs. Now he sees only 20 per cent footfall compared to early days. The store now runs with only one salesperson, instead of three - the others have gone back to their native. “Till gatherings are not allowed, I don’t see the situation improving,” he says.
Proprietor Dhaval Shah of Orbiter, a clothing store in the same shopping centre, says he is selling stock of Jan-Feb and expects the situation to be bleak for a year or more. “We are allowed to open only 12 days in a month - even Sundays we have to be closed. How will we manage expenses,” he asks, pointing to a bag shop nearby that had expanded recently but had to down its shutters due to the high rent it could not afford to pay.
Manager Moin Suriya of an apparel store ‘W for Women’ in Colaba Causeway says they have introduced a checklist of safety precautions in the store to make customers feel safe while shopping. Apart from providing hand sanitizers, they check the temperature of everyone who walks in, using a temperature gun. Once in, the visitors write down their contact details in a register the store maintains. “We now allow them to try only a maximum of three dresses. The dresses go back to shelves only after being isolated for two days and then thoroughly ironed.”