City was abuzz with activity as a number of garment, footwear and jewellery stores opened on Wednesday, after the State government announced relaxations with strict guidelines, late on Tuesday night.
Though several small scale standalone cloth shops opened last one week itself, big and branded garment stores opened their doors on Wednesday, after two-month lockdown period. Many shops were seen hanging the board ‘We are open’.
Busy look
Roads leading to Asilmetta, Siripuram, Dwaraka Nagar and a few other areas once again wore a busy look with most of the garment and jewellery shops thrown open for its customers.
Many stores were also seen encouraging customers for online purchase. All the shops which opened on Wednesday were seen strictly following the guidelines such as checking the body temperatures of customers, providing sanitisers and making sure customers maintain minimum distance between them. Trial rooms have been prohibited in the garment stores and in the stores that earlier provided the facility. “No customer or staff is allowed to enter the store without a mask. Not more than five customers are allowed inside the store at a time. Sanitisation of the common touch points like door knobs in the store is done. Trial rooms are not allowed to be used. Exchange of products is discouraged, however if any exchange happens, they are being kept in separate quarantine boxes for four days,” said Sudixa Majumdar, a garment store manager at Dabagardens.
‘Heavy loss’
Managements of garment and jewellery stores said that they had suffered heavy losses due to the lockdown, which was announced during peak wedding season.
“March to May is a major business season, as number of weddings take place. Families come to purchase saris and other clothes in bulk. We do not see such a boost in the near future, since weddings are now a low-key affair, as per the COVID-19 protocol,” said Adi Narayana, a garment shop owner from Gajuwaka area.