Malls in Thane and Navi Mumbai see few visitors, roads crowded

WHILE THE roads, especially near markets, were crowded in Thane and Navi Mumbai, the malls and hotels which opened on Monday under the five-level unlocking plan saw few visitors.

Thane and Navi Mumbai were the cities that were allowed to open shopping malls, hotels and restaurants and cinema halls from Monday at 50 per cent capacity under government guidelines as they fall under level 2. There was little response in the malls and hotels, but heavy vehicular traffic was witnessed on roads in both the cities.

While the malls and cinema halls were following precautions, the roads were crowded in some areas and social distancing was not followed.

Most of the malls were open, but cinema halls in some malls couldn’t open due to short notice.

“Though the footfall was less than pre-Covid times, there was a positive response from buyers considering the first day. Cinema halls couldn’t be opened due to short notice, they are likely to start within a day or two after making necessary arrangements,” said Rima Kirtikar, chief marketing officer of Viviana Malls.

“At Seawoods Grand Central, we opened with over 80% of the stores trading. We are certain that over the next couple of days, over 90% of our retail partners would be trading with us. As of 5 pm, we had clocked over 6,000 footfall,” said Jayen Naik, senior vice-president — operations & projects, Nexus Malls, which owns Seawoods Grand Central Mall, Navi Mumbai.