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Despite upward trend, Holi sales in Chandigarh still shy of pre-Covid numbers
While the footfall has picked up across Chandigarh markets, reported sales were still lower than in the pre-Covid setting; businesses also rued the delay in setting up of their stalls
For the first time since the imposition of lockdown back in March 2020 -- which was followed up by another in March 2021-- people will have a chance to indulge in full festivities to celebrate Holi.
While the footfall has picked up across city markets, reported sales were still lower than what they used to be in the pre-pandemic setting as per the shopkeepers.
Speaking on the same, proprietor of Sector 11-based Dewsun and Chandigarh Beopar Mandal chief spokesperson Diwakar Sahoonja said, “Definitely we are seeing more people in the markets on Holi this year. Many people however lost someone close to them in the past year, due to this they are not celebrating Holi. Even the purchasing capacity of those who are celebrating has been affected and gulaal is the product of choice while more expensive items have taken a back seat.”
Businesses also rued the delay in setting up holi stalls outside shops in the various markets of the city.
Sector 46 stall owners said they started setting up stalls only on Thursday. Rajinder Kumar, one of the vendors, said not many people visited during the day, but they expected a better response in the evenings.
Ankur Rawat, who has been setting a stall in this market for the past eight to nine years, said “We don’t have a lot of new stock this year as many items from the previous two years are being sold. Some of the fancy items we sell have nice designs and have pictures of cartoons for the children.”
In Sector 35, Ankur Gupta stocked water pistols costing as high as ₹2,000 for sale. He said, “Although people prefer the simpler water pistols, people’s spending power hasn’t been affected, especially in the upscale localities. People are also very particular about purchasing herbal gulaal only even though it is more expensive than the normal kind.”
Other shopkeepers echoed the sentiment and reported bigger sales for herbal gulal over the chemical variant.
As per Sahoonja, the purchasing trend saw a slight change this year with people choosing to purchase sweets and cakes over colours to spend more time with their families.
Sindhi Sweets proprietor Neeraj Bajaj also added that the gujiya sales, in particular, picked up this Holi and had even come close to the sales seen in the pre-pandemic years.
Bajaj, who is also the president of the Business Promotion Council, Sector 17, added that while the footfall picked up on Thursday, Sector 17 will remain closed on Friday morning and shops will only open around the afternoon.
