The district administration’s orders allowing the opening of sector markets on Monday here evoked lukewarm response from the shopkeepers and the customers alike.
While the barber shops and saloons remained closed, a few garments and electronics shops that opened registered few sales.
Mehta and Sons, a branded garments shop, in Sector 31 opened around afternoon but did not register any sale. The shop’s manager Naveen Kumar said they had opened with just four staff members and most of the day was lost in cleaning, dusting and arranging the stuff. “It will take a while before the word spreads and the customers come to the markets. People are little scared. We don’t hope the things to become normal anytime soon,” said Mr. Kumar. He added that the shop would be run with half the strength and the staff would be called for work in rotation.
Another shop in the market, Drapes and Decors, also did not see any sales on the first day of its opening after the lockdown. “Even before the lockdown, we were battling slowdown. And now this lockdown has hit even harder. These are really difficult times for the business,” said shop’s manager Ajay Kumar.
Prateek Saxena, who runs hair-cut unisex saloon — Be U— in Sector 15 Part-II market, said he had opened the saloon for cleaning and disinfection. He said he needed to apply for passes for two of his hair-stylists staying in Delhi before the resumption of operations.
Mr. Saxena said they now need to keep in mind the social distancing norms as well and won’t allow more than three clients inside together. “I have bought a thermal scanner to check the body temperature and ten litres sanitiser,” said Mr. Saxena.
However, Ritika, the owner of Belle’s Saloon in Sector 14 market, said she would prefer to wait till May 17 despite the permission, since clients were anyway not expected to turn up. Abhishek, who runs a spa in Sector 31, said four of his spas were in shopping malls and not expected to open anytime soon, so he would open this spa in the sector market in a couple of days.
Rajesh of “R R Fabric” in Sector 46 market said he opened around noon and only one customer visited his shop. “It is not the kind of rush that was expected. People are hesitant to come out. We need to wait for a few more days to see how it unfolds,” said Mr. Rajesh. An adjoining electronic goods shops, however, registered some sale. “We have sold two-three items,” said the manager. However, a majority of the residents’ welfare associations did not allow the domestic workers to return to work.
