BENGALURU: Although Namma Metro resumed its services two months ago, none of the shops inside the Metro stations are willing to reopen unless concessions on rent are offered to them. Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited said that 33 shops had closed. “Ten have shut permanently while 23 have reopened. The ones that have reopened are located outside the stations, but fall in our jurisdiction. No shop within stations is willing to restart,” an official said.
Three of the 10 shops closed their businesses voluntarily. “However, half the shops are ready to reopen if we offer a huge cut in rentals,” another official said. Shops were functioning inside Baiyappanahalli, Indiranagar, Halasuru, Trinity, Vijayanagar, MG Road, Srirampura, Yeshwantpur, Rajajinagar and Mahalakshmi Layout Metro stations. BMRCL did not collect rent for any of its shops when services were suspended due to the pandemic. But with ridership just a tenth of pre-Covid levels, shop owners feel reopening will result in losses.
Although average ridership has gradually increased since trains began running after Covid restrictions were lifted, it is nowhere near the 5 lakh per day ridership before services were shut. “During the November 2-8 week, we had an average of 68,000 commuters daily. On November 9, we touched our second-highest ridership figure of 73,205 passengers,” said B L Yashavanth Chavan, chief public relations officer.
Proprietors also factor in the cost of rent. Even the smallest shops pay between Rs 35,000 and Rs 45,000, said a shop owner. To this, Chavan said, “We did not fix the rent. We only cited a minimum price and it was the owners who gave us the quotes. There are different rentals for different shops.”On reopening of shops, BMRCL Managing Director Ajay Seth said, “Because of the pandemic, patronage is low. Naturally, shops are asking for relief measures so that they do not suffer heavy losses.
We will take an appropriate decision in this regard.” However, even before the pandemic, things were not all rosy. At least half of the shop owners downed shutters for good. Salon chain, Sooper Xpress, shut shop before the pandemic struck, while the iconic Dasprakash Hotel at the Metro Art Gallery adjacent to MG Road Metro station, closed down after the death of its owner.
This was not the right time to advertise commercial spaces, Seth said. “The bids for taking up the spaces will be very low due to a business dip all around. We will wait for an appropriate time before we go in for fresh bids.”