As things slowly crawl back to normal, the state government allowed malls, non-essential shops, street food vendors, and private offices to open up at the beginning of this week. And now the restaurant, religious places, and gyms have also been given a go-ahead to start their operations. This has come as a big relief for businesses that were impacted to a great degree due to a partial lockdown and night curfew following the second wave. While the night curfew will continue to remain in place, increased business hours have surely brought a sigh of relief for various business owners. And with gymnasiums and city parks also allowed to reopen, fitness enthusiasts are also gearing up to step out for their daily workout.
Retailers and mall owners hope for good business days aheadWhile city malls were allowed to reopen in the last week of May, time restrictions meant very limited footfalls. But with the new guidelines allowing them to stay open till 8 pm, the retailers and mall owners are anticipating better sales. “We reopened our premises on May 22 after thoroughly sanitizing our entire premise as per the SOP’s laid down by the
AMC
. Now that we are allowed to keep the premises open till 6 pm, we are optimistic that this will help our retail partners recover sales better,” says Jayen Naik, senior VP, operations, and projects of a city mall. He adds, “We have seen a very steady increase in footfalls, and categories like fashion, beauty and electronics have been the fastest off the blocks this time as well. As a safety protocol, we are trying to get all our employees, retail partners and support staff vaccinated at the earliest too.”
Relief for restaurants, but they hope for longer dine-in hoursRestaurants and eateries in the city have been allowed to operate till 7 pm with 50 percent capacity as per the latest guidelines. While this is good news for many, restaurateurs are not entirely happy with the development. “Our lunch sales contribute to only 25 percent of the day’s business. We rely on dinner dine-ins to boost our business,” explains
Rushad Ginwala
, owner of a restaurant chain in Gujarat. He adds, “During summer, dinner usually starts around 8 in the evening. Given the current guidelines, there is no question about staying open all day as that would lead to an increase in operating costs. Lunch hour lasts a little over 3 pm, and it is not viable for us to keep the restaurants open beyond that.”
Aalap Shah, owner of a popular restaurant in the city, shares, “Overall, the market sentiment is improving, the business should pick up now. However, timing till 7 pm is a hindrance since the majority of the business happens at night. The current timing will not help us cover our costs. Having said that, it’s a positive step and hopefully, things should be fully functional in a week or two.”
We will take time to go back to pre-pandemic business: Street food vendorsAlthough the street food vendors have incurred major losses, they are happy that things are returning to normal. “It is difficult to go back to pre-pandemic business since we have to shut down by 6 pm. But we are trying to gain as much from the time on hand. I think things will get better in the coming days,” says Suhas Singh, owner of a food truck on Sindhu Bhavan Road.
Another major setback to the street food joints in the city was when the food truck parks had been asked to shut down due to
COVID
guidelines. “Just when we had started getting some business, we were asked to shut down again as some of them could not adhere to the COVID protocols,” says Singh. “I have now shifted my truck to a new place, as I don’t think the parks are reopening any time soon.”
Non-essential shops and offices resume their operations tooAfter the non-essential shops were allowed to resume business till 3 pm, it has come as a respite for the shop owners as they can now keep their shops open till 6 pm now.
Jagdish Gandhi
, owner of a shop in
Satellite
, shares, “The new guidelines allow us to stay open till 6 pm, which is a big relief. Earlier when we were allowed to stay open till 3 pm, there were hardly any footfalls. Business is still slow, but it is gradually opening up. At our store, we follow all the safety protocols. It is important to be careful now and not forget the fact that the pandemic is still present.”
Even professionals, who had been working from home are slowly getting back into their normal routine. Himani Mehta, a working professional, shares, “After having worked from home for over a year, my office is gradually opening up now. The management has decided to open up gradually and has been calling people in shifts. It is a little difficult to get back to the normal routine, but we are all slowly adjusting to it.”