CHENNAI: Even the pouring rains did not stop locals from thronging the shopping bazaars of the city for Diwali, set to be celebrated in ten days. In north Chennai’s Royapuram, the narrow MC Road, which has about 4,000 shopping bazaars, was jammed on Wednesday morning with a large number of people coming in for shopping. The two-kilometre stretch has low, mid and high-range shops.
Sundar S, a long-time vendor, said non-Chennaiites usually visit one week ahead of Diwali. “Easily 20,000 to 30,000 people from outside the city come every day a week ahead of the festival while locals start coming a few days before the festival,” he said. The roadside bazaars are similar to those in T Nagar and Purasawalkam. Since prices are highly slashed at the latter, people prefer these shops. “Last year, more than one lakh people came on the day of Diwali alone,” he said.
Sundar, who sells all types of clothes including saris, said he earns about Rs 20,000 daily during the week leading to Diwali and closer to the festival, he earns nearly Rs 1 lakh. While there was a high to moderate crowd in T Nagar, not many people were seen shopping in Purasawalkam. Despite e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Flipkart providing eye-catching offers, the shoppers feel it won’t match the real-time experience.
“No matter the offers available online, quality and size of clothes remain ambiguous. Here, we can always try out the clothes and take our time,’’ said P Bhaskar, who had come with his family members to shop at Pondy Bazaar. Vendors also said that the growth of online sales has not affected their business. Sridharan of Ambika Textiles in MC Road, said there has been a steady crowd coming every year during festivals. ‘‘Mostly only youngsters and boys may purchase clothes online. Middle-aged people continue to visit bazaars and showrooms too,’’ he said.
As bazaars get busier, city police is on their heels charting out plans to enhance security and stabilise traffic.Cases that normally come during Diwali are theft, phone-snatching, shoplifting, and lost children. To tackle this, more than 200 police officials are set to be deployed across the bazaars.
Police officials said four-wheelers and autorickshaws will not have access to main shopping areas like Ranganathan Street, Pondy Bazaar, MC Road and GA Road. Police will be in mufti to monitor criminal activity. Parking lots would be set in Corporation school grounds. ‘‘We advise people to avoid private transport for shopping and use public transport as it will reduce traffic immensely,’’ said a police official.