Despite relaxations, malls in Ludhiana receive low footfall

The residents’ apprehensions and their reduced incomes has negatively impacted businesses, said the store owners

Even though the state government has extended the time limit to keep the stores open to 9pm and even abolished the Saturday lockdown, the malls in the city continue to witness low footfall.

Westend Mall in Ludhiana wears a deserted look on Monday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

The residents’ apprehensions and their reduced incomes has negatively impacted businesses, said the store owners.

An employee at a garment store in Westend Mall, Sukhwinder Singh, said, “The relaxations did not have much impact on the footfall. Only those customers visit the malls who need something specific, that too mostly on Sundays.”

The employees of stores situated in other malls said the negotiations were on with the mall management regarding reduction in rent. Many employees even lost their jobs as stores cut down their fixed expenses.

The manager at an eating joint in MBD Neopolis, Rohit, said, “The footfall is less as cinemas are closed and people are avoiding eating out. Even when we are taking all precautions, the response has reduced by around 70%. But our expenses are the same. Our team is negotiating with the mall management regarding the rent.”

Marketing manager of Westend Mall, Ramesh Gandhi, said, “We cannot reveal the figures regarding the overall response, but it is increasing with the relaxations being announced by the state government.”