Shoe sales are yet to gain momentum at different showrooms in the capital ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, considered as the main business season.
Though the government allowed shops, malls across the country to reopen amid the strict lockdown, still low presence of customers was witnessed in showrooms of major footwear brands like Bata, Apex Footwear and Bay Emporium.
“Customers do not visit our stores like before. Non-availability of public transport may be one of the reasons for it,” said HM Mridul, store manager, Bata Store, Mirpur.
“Earlier in a normal day, our daily sales were between 1,40,000 to Tk 1,50,000. But during this lockdown, it declined significantly. Even ahead of Eid our sales are experiencing low turnover,” he added.
“We are following health guidelines strictly in our showroom. Besides, if any customer comes here without a mask, we provide them mask as well,” he added.
Ashraful Alam, manager of Apex Footwear echoed Mridul.
“We are passing a lazy time in the showroom right now. Our sales declined to one fourth as few customers visit our showroom after the resumption of business in lockdown,” he said
Ashraful said the company is yet to offer any price discount on any product ahead of Eid but they unveiled few new designs on the occasion.
He informed that Apex was giving full salary to the employees amid the pandemic and senior officials of the company regularly visit their showroom to see if the health guidelines were followed.
“Sales decreased by 50 per cent in our showroom during this lockdown. Customers’ presence is very low. Many of them (Customers) look for cheaper footwears,” said Shafiqul Islam, manager, Bay Emporium.
“We are experiencing economic loss right now. Our average sale in January, February and March was better than now. Our sales before Eid have not reached the expected level yet,” said an assistant manager of Leatherex.
“Currently we are not offering any discount on any product of our company as we are facing economic hardship,” he added.
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, aiming at curbing Covid-19 spread.
