21 days left for puja, mkts back to life as shoppers start streaming in
Times of India | 19 September 2024
123 Kolkata: After days of low footfall at the traditional shopping hubs across the city, the crowd of buyers is back with a bang. With 21 days to go for Durga Puja, the festive zing — that had been conspicuously missing till last week — was witnessed in the city markets on Wednesday, indicating at the pre-puja business finally picking up pace.
Around evening on Wednesday, traditionally the dullest day in markets and shopping centres, crowds brimmed over at Hatibagan, Gariahat and New Market, a familiar sight during pre-Durga Puja weekends.
At Hatibagan, readymade apparel store owner Ranjan Roy is ecstatic over the turnaround in the past four to five days. Till last week, footfall was a third of what he had witnessed a month ahead of Durga Puja in the previous years. Sales were poor. But since Saturday, footfall and sales have shot up. “In the past few days, I have sold more than I did during the corresponding period last year,” said Roy.
Swapan Modok, another garment shop owner at Hatibagan Market, expressed relief at the turnaround. “Customers who have been regular for years had not showed up till this weekend. Now they are back. The mood is a lot better than last year although people are still not quite in the joyous mood that they usually are before the mega festival,” said Modok.
Hawkers Raj Halder and Ricky Sharma, who sell women's apparel in Hatibagan, are looking ahead with hope. "This year, the business has been dismal due to the RG Kar incident and the protests that it ignited. Since Shyambazar crossing was the epicentre of protests till the second week of Sept, hardly anyone turned up to shop. Thankfully, that is changing,” said Sharma.
At Gariahat, the crowd has picked up but the numbers are still way short of past festive seasons. Ankita Mukherjee, who was at Gariahat, said she was making a modest purchase this year as she did not feel too enthused after the RG Kar incident.
Some like Piyasa Das have not ventured out to shop as they felt guilty doing so. Nevertheless, she did buy a couple of dresses online. At New Market, footfall increased this weekend with hawkers recording a 50-60% rise in business. Stores within the market recorded 20-30% rise in sales. Meanwhile, hawker unions that had earlier planned to take out rallies to protest ‘an attack on their livelihood’ ahead of puja, have now decided to put such plans on hold amid the gradual rise in business.