New Delhi: Deserted restaurants, empty showrooms and closed multiplexes, malls in the national Capital amid
Coronavirus outbreak are a pale shadow of their former bustling selves.
Be it South Delhi's posh Select City Walk mall, its neighbour and newly-renovated DLF Avenue Mall or West Delhi's favourite go-to destination Pacific Mall, all have been at the receiving end of the coronavirus pandemic, witnessing over "50 per cent" decline in the footfalls so far.
"The fear of the novel Coronavirus outbreak has resulted into 60 per cent less footfall in the mall. Shutting down of theatres is also the reason behind the sharp decline I guess," said Ankit Seth, Manager, Bath & Body Works at Select City mall.
The Delhi government on March 12 declared the Coronavirus (COVID-19) an epidemic and decided to shut down cinema halls, schools and colleges till March 31 in the national Capital as a precautionary measure. Decision on the closure of malls is still awaited.
Even weekends did little to bring back the absent cheer in the various plush stores which visibly remained empty during the good part of the day and staff members outnumbered customers by a fair margin.
"I have been working as a salesman for over 13 years now but I have never seen this slow business in a mall, and that too on weekends," said a salesperson of a famous clothing brand on the condition of anonymity.
"To be honest, it is as good as being shut. Forget about getting good sale numbers, people are just not visiting the mall in the first place," he said.
Home Centre, a well-known home furnishing retail stores chain, refused to comment on the sales or dip in footfalls in their store.
Interesting enough, the few who did turn up in the mall amidst this widespread fear of the deadly virus said this would be their "last visit" till the time the dust settles on the highly contagious disease.
"I mainly came because of my children. They were so hell-bent that they had to go and were not ready to take no for anything. But then I have made things very clear that this one would be for the last time until things improve. Also, we don't plan to stay for long," said 35-year-old Gurpreet Singh, who had come to Pacific mall along with his family members.
That said, most of these malls are claiming to follow all the guidelines issued in the health advisory by the government to ensure "hygiene and clean environment" in the premises.