Kolkata shops open early, shut late to beat rally-rain blues – Times of India

Kolkata News

KOLKATA: Open early, shut late – that’s what most traders in central Kolkata are doing in the run-up to the festive season in order to make up for losses from back-to-back traffic choker political rallies on almost all weekdays in the past couple of weeks, coupled with intermittent spells of rain.
Be it inside New Market, Sreeram Arcade, Traders Island, or hawkers occupying pavement spaces at the Oberoi Grand arcade or on Lindsay Street and Bertram Street, everyone has been ruing the loss of business during the peak afternoon and evening hours.
“Since there have been very few customers in the late morning and afternoon due to clogged streets in the central business district as a result of political protests, we have had to alter our operation hours,” said Ajay Gupta, a shop owner at New Market. “In the evening, we are witnessing an increase in customer footfall. We are thus now open past 9 pm.”
Ghulam Rasul, another shop owner at New Market, seconded Gupta’s claim. “On Thursday, I did my first transaction only after 6pm, when the situation eased and customers began to trickle in,” he recounted.
Om Prakash Pandey, who has a shop in Sreeram Arcade, has also extended closing time. “The market usually closes at 9pm. But over the last few days, a cluster of shop owners have formed a WhatsApp group and we take a call on the closing time based on the evening footfall. On three days this week, we kept our shop open till 10.30pm,” Pandey said.
‘Walked from Babughat to Esplanade after diversion’
Since the disruptive rally by BJP on September 13, which had paralysed the heart of the shopping district, there have been political and apolitical rallies converging on Esplanade almost every day. On an average, shops garner around 15% of the annual revenue in the 30 days preceding Shashthi. These rallies severely hampered the business community in the run-up to puja.
Behala resident Sohini Karmakar said, “We had planned to start shopping in central Kolkata in the early afternoon. But cops diverted our bus to Babughat, and we had to walk down from there till Esplanade.”
Howrah resident Sudipto Sarkar, whom TOI spotted in New Market, said, “On Friday, we were caught in a traffic jam for a long time. Fortunately, we could finish shopping by evening.”
Esplanade hawkers are also feeling the rally pinch. “We used to open our stalls at 10am. But now we are opening at 8.30am, hoping for some early business. We are staying open till 11pm at times, almost an hour after the last Metro,” said Akhileshwar Prasad, a hawker at the Grand arcade.
Even when rallies spared the city, the weather decided to play spoilsport. Several occasions of intermittent rain forced shoppers indoors. Kaushik Das, a Lindsay Street hawker, said, “Last Monday, there were no rallies, but it rained so heavily in the afternoon that our business took a huge hit.”

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/kolkata-shops-open-early-shut-late-to-beat-rally-rain-blues/articleshow/94407365.cms