After long wait to reopen shops, Ludhiana traders now await customers

Booksellers said they despite the new academic session and online classes, they were not making even 26% of their regular sales

Two days after the district administration allowed retail stores to reopen amid the Covid-19 lockdown, shopkeepers in popular markets of Ludhiana, including Chaura Bazaar, Field Ganj and Books Market, said their sales were not the same due to reduced footfall.

Shopkeepers waiting for customers at Akalgarh Garment Market in Ludhiana on Tuesday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

Some shopkeepers said they did not earn a single penny till Tuesday afternoon for want of customers, who were still choosing to remain indoors

Vehicles start plying at Ghumar Mandi Road in Ludhiana on Tuesday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

Even at the otherwise busy Clock Tower Road, shopkeepers and their workers could be seen sitting idle outside their shops waiting for customers.

Prince, one of the shopkeepers dealing in garments, said no customer had even entered his shop all day. “People are not coming out of their homes yet. We are also not expecting much footfall as it will take days for normalcy to return,” he said.

Retailers on their way to their shops at Saban Bazaar in Ludhiana on Tuesday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

He said their regular customers were migrants and rural people. “Most of such people are struggling due to depleting finances or have left for their home states. Also, lack of public transport has affected our sales.”

Similarly, the shopkeepers of the Books Market said their counter sale had dropped by around 80%.

JS Bunty, president of the Books Market Association and owner of Sant Stationery, said the retailers were expecting a number of customers as online classes for the new academic session had started. “But the footfall is too less. The sales are not even 25% of what we earned earlier,” he said.