In deserted markets, shop owners reopen just to clean up, take stock

New Delhi: In deserted marketplaces and shopping malls, as business owners prepared to reopen their premises and welcome buyers, a lack of customers, the trauma of losing loved ones, and the weight of having survived the brutal second wave of the pandemic meant stalls and shops opened their shutters just to take stock and clean their products — most not even expecting customers — on day one of the new unlock guidelines coming into place.

Only a few customers were seen in several markets as shopkeepers cleaned and sanitised their premises, hoping for more people to come during the day and the situation to improve in the coming weeks.

During this week, malls, markets and market complexes (except weekly markets) will open between 10 am to 8 pm on an odd-even basis in accordance with their shop numbers.

"I recently lost my mother. I am still trying to cope with the loss. Today, we have opened the shop only for cleaning and sanitising. We will close it by early and will try to resume work from maybe the next two days. We still stay away and since, the shop is run by my family members, so that's a relief," said a 60-year-old Kuljeet Singh, whose family has been running "Classik Electronics" at Lajpat Nagar's Central Market for the last 35 years.

The Lajpat Nagar market, one of the most crowded markets and a popular shopping destination in the city wore a deserted look as shopkeepers with allotted odd numbers slowly set up their shops after a gap of nearly two months.

While many shops with odd numbers slowly opened their outlets on Monday, there were several others who chose to wait for a few more days to monitor the situation to finally restart their business.

Deepak Arora, whose small shop usually sees women crowding for artificial jewellery and fancy items said, "Usually, we open it by 10 am and close our shop around 8 pm but today as we restarted, it seems like we will just clean our products, santitise them and may be start our business in the coming days. There are hardly any customers and if this remains the situation, then I'm planning to shut my shop by 5 pm".

Most of the shops at Surajmal Vihar market were closed. The situation at the Cross River Mall was similar.

Vikas Kumar, who runs a mobile accessories store at Cross River Mall, said he received a call from the mall authorities that they can open the shop.

"Today, it seems like the day will be spent on cleaning the counter. We hope that the situation will get better in future," Kumar said.

But the ones who did reopen their shops for sales, had high hopes for customer footfall to increase as the week continued.