Akhtar Khan, in his late 50s, has been struggling to make ends meet since the nationwide lockdown was announced on March 24 to stem the spread of Covid-19 pandemic. A tailor by profession, Akhtar owns a small shop in Sector 20 here and is a lone provider for his family of eight people.
“For almost two months, the shop remained closed. Although it is open now, there are hardly one or two customers each day. I have been having sleepless nights as I have to look after my entire family, pay electricity bills, water bills and also, marry off my two daughters,” he says.
“Earlier, I had two more workers to assist me at the shop but as my shop remained closed due to coronavirus triggered lockdown restrictions, they could not earn a single penny and headed back home in Uttar Pradesh,” Akhtar adds.
He further says, “I, myself have not been able to earn much in the past one month and my family is surviving on a meager income. I am teaching my younger son, who is 21, to sew as I am not able to work alone at this age and we need to earn money to survive.”
The condition of other small-scale business owners and the self-employed persons across the city is no better as there are no customers even after the lockdown restrictions were eased last month in Chandigarh. Be it apparels, footwear, electronic appliances, decorative pieces, cosmetics, or other items, the pandemic has virtually wiped off these products from the shopping list of customers and the shopkeepers are feeling the pinch of Covid-19 pandemic.
Rajeev Sahdev, owner of a jewellery store in Sector 35 here tells, “People have postponed weddings and other functions. So there is virtually no footfall in my store. The sale has dropped by 80 percent due to the coronavirus. We are using savings to run our homes but then for how long, will we survive… The situation will become more difficult in the coming months due to financial stress.”
“Many shopkeepers who were tenants in the booth market here have shut down their businesses as they could not afford to pay high rents during lockdown,” he tells. Rajeev, critical of the Union Government as well as the local Administration, says no effort has been made to save small businesses. “Who has benefitted from the Rs 20 lakh crore package announced by the Central Government? A direct relief in terms of waiving of electricity bills, waiver of interest for deferred payments of installments for loans during the moratorium period and other incentives should be given to save the small businesses,” he says.
As The Pioneer talked to more small-scale business owners, they echoed the same troubles as faced by Rajeev. They say that the life during lockdown has been a struggle and it is not likely to end soon due to change in consumer spending and shopping habits.
President of the Chandigarh Beopar Mandal, Chiranjeev Singh says, “Coronavirus had a strong impact on the demand of many products. While the grocery items, medical supplies remain the essential commodities for the customers, they are yet not willing to open their wallets to buy apparels, electronics, home and kitchen appliances, gifts, footwear, among other products.”
“Even as the UT Administration has allowed the shops to open seven days a week to recover from the financial crisis, there are only 20-25 percent of customers at the shops. Be it Sector 17 market, Sector 22 market, Sector 19 or other sector markets, many shops are not witnessing even a single customer the entire day. Both small scale and big businesses are affected,” he says.
“The shop owners are following all safety protocols including wearing masks and using sanitizers but we anticipate that the entire year will remain like this as there is a fear among people of contracting the virus while they are out for shopping.
We are dealing with financially tough times and people are in no mood to invest in anything except essential commodities. It will certainly take many months for the shopkeepers to recover from this and make profits again,” Chiranjeev further says.
The curfew, which was imposed on March 24 in the city to ensure social distancing, was lifted on May 3 midnight by the Administration. After this, the markets across the city gradually reopened to minimal customers amid the surge in number of Coronavirus cases. The shops were allowed to open from 10 am to 8 pm from June 2 onwards in the city.
However, the odd-even stipulations for shops are in place in congested markets such as Sector 46 Rehri market, Sector 22 Shastri market, Sector 15 Patel Market, Sec 41 Krishna Market, Sec 19 Sadar Bazar and Palika Bazar, Sec 18 Gandhi Market, Sec 27 Janta Market and street vendors in various sectors.
Interestingly, there was too much business for grocery stores across the city due to the surge in grocery demand sparked by lockdown restrictions. In March and April, panic buying and hoarding by citizens emerged as a main after-effect of coronavirus lockdown. Sale of masks, gloves, and hygiene related products such as soaps, sanitizers, hand washes at medical stores also witnessed a huge spike.
Apart from this, the demand for sports goods especially board games were high with children stuck indoors during curfew and subsequent lockdown in the city.
On the other hand, the demand of other items such as cosmetics, furniture, electronics, home and kitchen appliances, apparels among others has witnessed a sharp fall with the customers shifting priority to essential products only.
Rajan Verma, who runs a sporting goods shop in Sector 22 here tells, “While my shop remained closed due to curfew, there was some stock of sports goods at my home which people purchased to keep their kids busy indoors. Now that shops are open, the sale of sports goods is dropped by more than 50 percent but still, better than other products in the market,” he tells.
While the small-time shopkeepers are desperately waiting for customers, the daily wagers are also deprived of their livelihoods and pushed into penury. Many daily wagers, whose earnings were stalled due to Coronavirus, have now turned into vegetable and fruit vendors.
For instance, Sham Lal, 46, who was an auto-rickshaw driver before the curfew restrictions, had to become a vegetable and fruit seller to fulfill the needs of his family comprising wife and two children. He says, “The auto-rickshaw had been lying useless ever since the curfew was imposed. After the imposition of lockdown, the Administration has allowed only one passenger per auto-rickshaw. How much we can earn with such restrictions and how much a single passenger would agree to pay for a journey?”
“It has always been a hand-to-mouth situation for us. I had no savings and the financial crisis coupled with thoughts of not being able to feed my children even two times a day, troubled me for several days. My son is just two-and-a–half-years-old and my daughter is seven years old. As selling fruits and vegetables came under essential service, I bought a cart and started selling fruits and vegetables,” he says.
During the difficult times, everyone from small-time shopkeepers to daily wagers are apparently exploring options to survive while the owners of major showrooms are also focusing on change in business models and taking their business to online platforms.
The multi-storey showrooms are also facing losses and are busy to chalk out new plans for online service in Chandigarh.
Diwakar Sahoonja, 76, owner of Dewsun showroom in Sector 11 says, “Ours is the city’s oldest gift shop but due to Coronavirus, our customers have reduced by around 70 percent. Many occasions have gone unnoticed in the past three months and sale of greeting cards and gift items have dropped sharply.” Sahoonja says he is among the few shopkeepers in the market to have opened their store in the 1970s and have never seen a situation like this since then.
“We have installed a sanitization station outside and are taking all the necessary precautions.
However, the customers are scared to venture out of their house to buy items like gifts. We have now planned to launch an online platform for selling the gift items so that there are no long-term consequences on our business due to Coronavirus,” he adds.
