As Covid cases dip in Chandigarh, sales pick up this Rakshabandhan

Meanwhile, officials from Elante Mall said that they hadn’t planned anything special and Sunday would be business as usual

With Covid cases going down, the festival of Rakhshabandhan that remained a lacklustre affair in 2020, is showing signs of improvement this year with shopkeepers reporting nearly 50% jump in sales across city markets.

With Covid cases going down, shopkeepers reported a 50% jump in Rakhi sales this year as compared to a lacklustre affair last year due to the pandemic. Rain also couldn’t play spoilsport as residents poured in to tricity markets to shop for the festivities. (RAVI KUMAR/HT)

Speaking about this, proprietor of Dewsun in Sector 11, Diwakar Sahoonja, said, “The situation has greatly improved this time, but it is still not along the lines of previous years. Rather than shop for sweets, people are opting for healthy items like juices with no added sugar.”

Last year rakhis with matching masks were introduced, but the trend has gone out of fashion now: “Masks have become the norm now and people don’t want to be reminded of Covid anymore,” he said.

The footfall in markets has gone up now, which is encouraging for traders. President of the Chandigarh Beopar Mandal Charanjiv Singh said, “The response on Rakshabandhan is encouraging and more good news is due for traders with festivals like Dussehra and Diwali coming up.”

Malls are still testing the waters. When contacted, officials from Elante Mall said that they hadn’t planned anything special and Rakshabandhan on Sunday would be business as usual.

Sale of sweets returns to normal

The sale of sweets has also returned back to normal as per owners of various sweetshops of the city. Proprietor of Sindhi Sweets Neeraj Bajaj said, “People are going out more now. Due to the rains on Saturday, our business remained affected, but the effect of Covid has reduced.”

Proprietor of Uttam Sweets in Sector 46, Balwinder Singh, said, “We expect most of our sales will be on Sunday as people pick up fresh sweets. The cashew nut barfi remains our best-seller.”