Prayagraj: Traders associated with Prayag Vyapaar Mandal and Civil Lines Vyapaar Mandal are still pinning hopes on Dhanteras and Diwali festival to make up for their losses.
Traders, who kept their shutters down for around 65 days during the Covid-19 induced lockdown, are hoping that they would be able to recover their losses due to no sale earlier this year during the Diwali festivities. However, most of the traders claimed that the sale of various items like garments, footwear, jewellery and the automobile is nowhere close compared to the sales on Diwali in the previous years.
The fear of catching Covid-19 infection and the rising trend of online shopping has undoubtedly put the business prospects of local shopkeepers at risk of huge losses.
Vijay Arora, president of Prayag Vyapaar Mandal said, “We are yet to receive a better response at city’s prime markets ahead of Diwali festive season. He further added that, “customers are avoiding visiting the markets due to the Covid-19 pandemic and rising online shopping trend have left the businesses of local shopkeepers affected to a major extent”. Arora also claimed, “A section of customers has undoubtedly returned to markets, but business is yet to match up to the previous years”.
He said that traders dealing in the garment, footwear, jewellery, and the automobile has noticed a slight jump in the sale on Sunday and are still pinning their hopes on Dhanteras and Diwali from November 12 to 14, to make up for their losses. Prayagraj wholesale crackers association claimed that the sale of crackers is also yet to witness a rise in demand as it has gone down by almost 40% this Diwali compared to last year.
Shushil Kharbanda, president of Civil Lines Vyapaar Mandal said, “We hope that market would be returning to its peak on coming days. Sale of various articles like a garment, footwear, jewellery, the automobile has increased in the past two days, but it was still not similar to previous Diwali”. He hopes things will change for the better for traders on Dhanteras. Most of the traders at civil lines and adjoining market are of the view that they will be able to make up for some of the losses on Dhanteras. “I just wish and pray that the situation remains better and market conditions improve,” said a shopkeeper at civil lines.
Interestingly, sale of Diwali related articles, particularly decorative items, has increased manifold at Chowk, Katra, Loknath, Sulemsarai, Rajapur and other markets. A variety of decorative are attracting customers who are ready to shell out extra bucks to get their homes decorated on this festive season. Sale of house paints has also increased manifold as people are busy in whitewash work.