74 days on, malls reopen to low footfall across country

74 days on, malls reopen to low footfall across country

Sales Too Remain Tepid On Day One

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

09.06.2020

As malls and shopping plazas across cities reopened on Monday after 74 days of lockdown, the spirit of business may have been unlocked but shoppers remained tied up in knots about whether or not to step out for that long overdue dose of retail therapy.

Most malls and plazas reported low to moderate footfall, and sales were tepid at best, according to retailers. At a mall in Lucknow's Gomti Nagar, a young couple who hadn't had a date in more than two months was among the few visitors throughout the day. They only visited the food court for a snack and a chat.

Ahmedabad's usually busy One Mall had a sprinkling of visitors in the first half of the day and almost none thereafter as rain put paid to chances of footfall picking up late afternoon. “Till 2pm, we had some 1,700 people coming in," said Jayen Naik, senior VP (operations) of the mall.

Kolkata seemed to be the exception, with managers of the larger malls such as South City and Acropolis saying their first-day turnout was decent for a Monday. "Stores selling kids wear and infant essentials did good business, as did some of the regular apparel stores. The F&B segment logged 30-40% of pre-Covid weekday sales," an official said.

Visitors wearing facemasks at a mall in New Delhi on Monday

Major temples in A’bad remain closed

While most large temples across Gujarat opened on Monday after more than two months, major temples in Ahmedabad stayed shut. They are likely to open after a week because they are situated in containment areas. The Iskcon temple on the SG Road was open.

Some Bengaluru malls seek more time to sanitise premises

Kolkata’s nearly 150-yearold New Market, which reopened for business a week ago, has been struggling to make up for the absence of visitors from Bangladesh, who constitute about 50% of its clientele.

In Bengaluru, not all malls reopened on Monday, while thosethatdidhadlittletocheer aboutin termsof footfall. Some malls put up boards saying they would open only from Wednesday as they required more time to sanitise the premises.

Caution was the buzzword at Chandigarh's Elante Mall, which deployed staff outside the building to prevent children below 10 and senior citizens above 65 from entering, as recommended by the government. A continuing tussle between retailers and the mall management over rent further dented the enthusiasm over business resuming after twoand-a-half months.

Hyderabad's City Center Mall, located in the tony Banjara Hills neighbourhood, didn't have even a fraction of the visitors and sales it records on a normal day. "We opened shops at 11am as usual, but the responsesofar hasbeen extremely poor. Those who entered our shop indulged only in window shopping," said Syed Salam, manager of an apparel store.

Some visitors had to be barred from entering the mall after they refused to download the Aarogya Setu app, an official said.

At Pondy Bazaar in the heart of Chennai, which has been developed as a pedestrian plaza under the Smart Cities Mission, the only sign of business activity was in shops selling mobile phones and accessories. Rows of textile showrooms, jewellery shops, a supermarket and multi-cuisine restaurants were almost deserted.

Pune's oldest marketplace, Laxmi Road, appeared to spring to life after a few sealed roads in the adjoining areas were reopened.

Jaipur's MI Road, a hub for jewellery, branded clothes, handicrafts,shoes andbags, reported15-20% of its usual business on Monday.

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