A shop at Dadar reopens Saturday. (Photo: Ganesh Shirsekar)

Shops in Mumbai continued to see low footfall for the second day as customers largely stayed away, still unsure if it was safe to step out. Many retailers too, plagued by a host of issues, including absence of clarity over which shops on which side of the road should open and which side should remain shut, and shortage of workers to serve customers and ensure social distancing inside the shops, remained shut on Day 2 of Mission Begin Again.

The city’s retailers’ association said most shops had remained shut. Viren Shah, who heads the Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association said that footfall in shops had only marginally increased on Saturday over Friday.

“There was a slightly higher turnout on Saturday as compared to Friday. On the whole, people are still afraid to visit shops for fear of being infected,” he said. Those that opened did not appear to be following the rule that only shops on each side of the road could open only on alternate days. There were shops open on both sides.

Shah added that most traders spent Friday cleaning and taking stock of inventory after opening shutters for the first time in three months. “Only half the shops in Mumbai opened on Friday as most employees have either returned to their native villages or live too far away to reach their workplaces,” he said.

The association has also asked the BMC to modify operating hours from the present 9 am-5 pm to 11 am-8 pm instead. “This will yield more taxes to the government, shops will be able to pay salaries to their staff and customers can shop at ease,” said Shah.

He added that more shops would open after the confusion surrounding the odd-open operating hours are resolved. A senior Mumbai Police official said after ward officers across the city published dates when shops on each road can stay open, they have held meetings with traders to help them understand the rules.

“The guidelines issued by the BMC are very specific but it will take a few days until shopkeepers understand them completely. We are asking shops flouting the guidelines to close,” said the official. Of the large traders at Crawford market, only those selling umbrellas are currently open, said C Ward municipal councillor Rita Makwana. “Even they are open only because the monsoon is about to set in. All other shops in the area are closed. Very few people are venturing out to markets,” she said.

Shops outside the western exit of Andheri railway station also bore a deserted look on Saturday. Pratik Gala, who runs Anupam Stationery Store said that his store is encouraging customers to opt for home deliveries. Gala has set up a counter at the entrance and prohibited customers from entering.

“We are down to 5 employees from a staff of 30 and cannot afford anyone getting infected. Moreover, we stock several small items and will not be able to control a large number of customers. They do wear masks and gloves but we cannot risk allowing them to enter,” he said.

To further limit the exposure of his staff to infection, Gala has also asked customers to place orders for books and stationery on online delivery services. But with the railway station shut, footfalls at his strategically located store have reduced drastically.

Bipin Patel, a shopkeeper on the normally packed Hill Road in Bandra West has also switched to home deliveries to protect his staff from infection.

“We are still not allowing walk-ins as we don’t want to take the risk of transmission. In the last two days, I have seen a greater increase in cars on the roads than in the number of customers in the market,” he said.

Javed Shaikh, who runs Channel Green Mobile Shop in Yari Road, Andheri West, said that since Friday, customers have only been calling the shop’s landline phone to ask if it is open. “No one is prioritising getting their phones serviced or repaired at this time. We have also been badly impacted as e-commerce platforms were allowed to open up much before us. Customers prefer to order phones online,” he said.

Harsh Patel, a municipal councillor in Goregaon West, said that garment and electronics stories in his ward witnessed low footfalls. “People have not yet become used to shopping for non-essentials. There is also the question of people having the means to commute easily to those shops,” he said.

Pravin Chheda, former BMC councillor from Ghatkopar said, “Citizens are not crowding non-essential shops in Ghatkopar. They are not stepping out for shopping for clothes or utensils, or any other non essential items. Locals are still lining up at grocery stores.”