Gloom for fired employees and ‘boom’ time for customers | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Gloom for fired employees and ‘boom’ time for customers

None | ByAmit Sharma, Ludhiana
Mar 30, 2009 10:55 PM IST

The global downturn has claimed its first high profile victim in Punjab. Indiabulls Mega Store (earlier called Pyramid), one of the biggest and oldest retail outlets in the state, shut shop. It also fired all its nearly 170 employees.

The global downturn has claimed its first high profile victim in Punjab.

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Indiabulls Mega Store (earlier called Pyramid), one of the biggest and oldest retail outlets in the state, shut shop. It also fired all its nearly 170 employees.

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Located in Ansal Plaza, Punjab’s first shopping mall on Ferozepur Road here, the retail chain is considered the pioneer of the state’s retail business.

The fired employees alleged that the company had not paid them salaries and other benefits. Facing uncertainty over the payment of their dues, the employees had, on Friday, stopped “billing” for a few hours to press their demands.

“It’s a gloomy affair. We were paid our salaries before the store suddenly shut down,” said Dinesh, a middle-rung employee who lost his job last week.

Indiabull executives, however, refused to talk on the issue. Hindustan Times learns that the local store management received “closure orders” last week, with instructions to dispose of all material through a “mega sale” that offered discounts of up to 70 per cent.

The closure, and the subsequent sale, has brought cheer to local residents, as several expensive items are available at dirt-cheap rates. “I cannot even dream of buying a Dockers or Levis product at Rs 99, but I did.

Recession, it seems, has two sides – one that brings gloom and another full of bloom for people like us,” said Gurvinder Singh Kahlon, a resident of Ludhiana, who bought armloads of branded items.

Taking advantage of the “sale”, many small shopkeepers and traders from the interiors of the city and outlying bought goods in bulk.

“I bought branded ladies handbags, jeans and tops at an 80 per cent discount and will sell it to my customers at less than the market price. It’s a win-win situation for me and my customers,” said Bobby, who runs a small shop in the city’s interior Ghumar Mandi area.

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