Tepid response dashes hopes of shops selling non-essential items

Nagpur: Markets wore an almost deserted look on Sunday, the first one after Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) allowed them to open. Only 40% shops selling non-essential items were open. While most shops were closed, establishments on both sides of the roads were seen open.
TOI took a look around the city to find that there was little crowd in front of the open shops. There were no traffic jams and ample parking space was available in most places.
Owners of shops, which were open, said that many of their neighbours had not opened their shops because they feared getting afflicted by coronavirus. “They have put their lives above livelihood,” said a shopkeeper.
Shopkeepers are a dejected lot. They had expected a huge response from customers as their establishments were closed for over two months. E-commerce was also not allowed. They had expected pent up demand to increase their business. However, their hopes were dashed.
Ashwin Mehadia, president of Nag Vidarbha Chamber of Commerce (NVCC), said that the response was not much after markets opened after several weeks. “Number of customers is less. Business is 20% of pre-lockdown times. I had moved around Bartan Bazar on Sunday. There was no crowd there. Normally it is full on Sunday,” he told TOI.
Akshay Patil, who owns an optical shop, said that business was completely down. “Several shops were open in Dharampeth but there were no customers. People do not have disposable income any more. Nobody is buying new spectacles from my shop. I had opened my shop about ten days ago. Those who need to get their spectacles repaired have already done so. Only a few customer came to my shop on Sunday, which used to be a busy day pre-lockdown,” he added.
Sandip Raut, owner of a garage in Ramdaspeth, said that business was so so after his establishment opened after a gap of several weeks. “The problem is that employees in private sector are not getting full salaries. Businessmen have no income. People whose cars have some problem are coming to my garage but they are avoiding big expenditures. They say they don’t have the money to replace costly parts. I should somehow repair the existing one,” he added.