BHUBANESWAR: The COVID-19 health pandemic has cast a shadow on the festive market. Every year before Dussehra, Bhubaneswar markets get overcrowded with people buying clothes, automobiles, household goods and jewellery.
This year, though, is different with people facing pay cuts and salary delays. The numbers of buyers and their purchasing capacity is at an all time low. Sellers at the Unit-II Market Building are feeling the pandemic pinch.
Bhaskar Chandra Sahoo who runs a garment shop at the Market Building for the last 30 years, said on an average he has been doing a business of Rs 1,000 a day ever since markets reopened after Unlock 5. "Last year, just two to three days before Durga Puja, the average sale per day was between Rs 12,000 and Rs 20,000," he said.
Owner of a footwear shop in the vicinity, Babloo Parida said that customers are no longer buying expensive products. He said that earlier people used to buy shoes worth Rs 1500 to Rs 2000 but now they are spending only Rs 300 to Rs 500.
This year, his average festive sales is only Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 whereas last year, Parida earned over Rs 22,000 a day during Durga Puja. Many shopkeepers have not even been able to pay their employees owing to the decline in business.
While they appreciated efforts of the BMC of curbing crowding at markets, the shopkeepers resented that this has dealt a deadly blow to their business. Malls too are facing loss. An official of retail chain Big Bazaar said ahead of Durga Puja last year, their average sale of garments was Rs 5 lakh to Rs 6 lakh per day but this year it is just Rs 1 lakh. Officials of V2 Mall in Nayapalli said there has been a 40 per cent decline in business this time.
“Footfall used to remain very high between 5 pm and 10 pm last year and 60 per cent of the day’s sale used to happen in the period. But this year, the evening footfall has reduced significantly and there are hardly any customers after 8 pm,” said V2’s store manager, Ranjan Kumar Hati. He added that online shopping platforms are offering attractive discounts on garments and customers have the benefit of receiving them at their doorsteps.