Weekend brings cheer to city malls

The entrances of the malls had stringent checks, with one attendant recording temperatures and noting down the details. While a few shoppers walked past the table, everyone was checked before allowed entry. At Express Avenue Mall, shoppers thronged the shops. While the crowds were not the typical crowds of a weekend, there were a plentiful number of shoppers. The reasons for shopping were varied across the board and across the malls in the city. For a few, it was a mixture of convenience and safety. “As everyone is being checked before entry, it is the perfect opportunity for us to come by and buy all the things we need in one stop, rather than worry about going to multiple places at once. It’s easy to maintain distance in a larger space as well,” said Shivakumar, a shopper at Express Avenue Mall.

While the crowd in VR Mall was decent when this reporter visited the site, the shoppers were there for the experience after many months of being cooped up at home. “My husband and I usually visit the mall every weekend before the shutdown. We’ve missed the experience, so we thought we’d come back. Since less people are coming now, I thought it would be safe to come now,” said Bhuvana, a shopper at VR Mall.

For a resident of Velachery, the reason for visiting Phoenix Marketcity was all business. “I didn’t want to dilly-dally because there is a higher chance of infection. When I was at the register, there was no social distancing followed, and the shopkeepers weren’t enforcing it. I think it’s important for us to be cautious when we go to public places, and many people weren’t paying heed to it,” she said.

Shopkeepers noted that there was a surge of sales over the weekend compared to the week. Many shops had on-going discounts on top of a special weekend discount for shoppers. “Many people are buying home décor and home care products as everyone is staying at home mostly. We are taking temperatures at the door, and making sanitiser mandatory for customers. We are also trying to cleanse the products regularly once customers leave,” said a manager of a home décor store.