The Unlock 4.0 guidelines may have allowed most of the economic activities to resume across the country, but the experience in shopping malls is not the same anymore.
Malls are witnessing meagre footfall with a few people opting to purchase from the retail stores at these shopping centres, leading to losses for the mall owners and retailers.
The Covid-19 protocols including temperature checks, mandatory wearing of masks, hand sanitising, restricted movement in the corridors, and stores to prevent crowding and contactless human interactions have been followed by the malls. But these protocols have affected the customers’ buying behaviour, as a result of mall traders and retailers are facing challenges in selling their products.
The owners and retailers feel that the reduced business does not augur well for the economy of malls, with customers showing reluctance to visit these shopping centres.
Deepak Shastri, a retailer who runs a clothing store at Bandra Hill Road, said that even after Unlock 4.0, the sales are almost negligible. People mostly visit malls only to do window shopping. Many garments in his shop have been damaged and he would have to throw them away, he added.