Shop owners and salespeople at Bashundhara City shopping mall in Dhaka said that their Eid sales were yet to gain momentum even on the 13th of Ramadan because of the lockdown imposed by the government to curb the spread of Covid-19 infections in the country.
Low customer turnout and breach of physical distancing were seen at the mega mall in Dhaka on the second day of resumption of business amid a lockdown on Monday.
Crowd at the usually abuzz market with shoppers was seen much thinner.
Md Nuruzzamman, assistant manager of apparel shop Dorjibari, said, “Right now, very few customers are buying products. In the past couple of days, most of the people coming to the showroom were just visitors.”
“I think the number of customers will increase before Eid. Many customers are unable to visit our showroom as there is no public transport,” he added.
Tanin Alam Nil, manager at Adi Mohini Mohan Kanjilal, said, “We have very selected customers who like Benarasi saris. After opening our showroom on March 26 this year, we received a better response from the customers. Unfortunately, the lockdown hampered our business.”
He also hoped that their sale would be better as they have a good reputation and popularity among Bangladeshis.
Mahin Islam Tonny, owner of cosmetics shop Imrose, said, “Customers are not willing to visit our store in person to buy cosmetics like before. They prefer to buy cosmetics and beauty products through our online service.”
“We are receiving more orders online. our online business is better than a physical store,” she added.
Abil Hossain, manager of Gentle Park showroom at the mall, claimed that Eid sales were yet to begin but he hoped that after a few days more people would visit their store.
“All our staff are following health guidelines and we also advise our customers to maintain physical distance while they visit our showroom,” he added.
Md Abdus Sattar Sohel, manager at OPPO Store at the mall, said, “Fear of coronavirus held the people back from visiting markets. Sales of mobile phones also declined for the lockdown.”
“Last month, we got out salaries but this month we are concerned whether we would get salaries or not. Besides, many of our staff are afraid of losing their job as well,” he added.
MA Hannan Azad, president of the Bashundhara Shopping Mall Shop Owners' Association, said, “I express my gratitude to the prime minister for allowing shops, markets and shopping malls to reopen ahead of Eid. After getting the government decision, we took health measures while opening our shops in the malls,”
“As the number one market in the country, we have some responsibility to follow the health guidelines strictly. We already informed every shop owner that they have to follow all the health guidelines during this pandemic. Otherwise, we will take action against them” he added.
He also said that both customers and sales would rise in the next few days.
Many salesmen of the showrooms said that parents are scared to visit the markets along with their children because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Earlier on April 25, Dhaka Metropolitan Police allowed the shopping malls and the markets in Dhaka to remain open till 9:00 pm maintaining the health guidelines.
The government enforced a two-week strict lockdown across the country starting from April 14, aimed at curbing Covid-19 transmission.
