Rain forces 90 pc drop in retail sales

Rain forces 90 pc drop in retail sales

The Times of India


Bangalore: What was expected to be a shopping bonanza week, has turned out to be a disastrous week for retailers in Bangalore. Festival sales are down dramatically. The heavy rains over the past several days have brought footfalls in retail stores down by as much as 90 per cent in many cases. And just about everybody is praying that the rains will end before the weekend.

“We are completely, totally affected. Across shops in Brigade Road, we are not doing even 10 per cent of what we did last year at this time,” says Suhail Yusuff, president of Brigade’s Shops & Establishments Association.
Madura Garments president Hemchandra Javeri echoes that: “Garment sales have been very badly hit in Bangalore. The number of walk-ins into our stores have dropped dramatically. Given the condition of the roads, there is just no shopping mood.”

The Diwali festive season is typically the biggest occasion for people to buy new clothes — for themselves and for gifting. And garment retailers see a massive spike in sales during this period. But this year, not many appear inclined to venture out to get new clothes.

Grocery stores and supermarkets have been somewhat less affected, since they sell daily necessities. An official of a supermarket chain says sales were very bad on Tuesday, when Bangalore saw extremely heavy rains. “But on Wednesday, it was better than normal because people hadn’t shopped the day before,” he says.

As for sales of gifting items in these stores, the official notes that most such purchases happen in the two days before Diwali day. “So, if the rain does not stop by Friday, sales could be badly hit,” he says.
The desperate hope among retailers is that Saturday and Sunday will see the sun shine.