While many local businessmen were waiting for the Holi festival to boost their business on the first big festival of this year, the recent surge in Covid-19 cases and ongoing construction works under the smart city project has affected the sales of Holi items in Dehradun. However, different items like fancy hair caps, turbans, colourful gloves and water guns with sanitiser holders are also introduced in the market to attract customers amid the pandemic.
According to a local shopkeeper in Paltan Bazaar, Dinesh Arora, the sales are not better this year than they were in the last Holi. “Last year, we had ordered Holi colours and water guns when the pandemic was not quite intense in the country. Though we did not make a huge profit, people had started buying products. However, the response to Holi is quite subdued so far this year as students used to make most of the purchases days before Holi. Also, people are avoiding Paltan Bazaar too due to the ongoing construction work which is causing considerable loss to several local shopkeepers,” said Arora.
Another local shopkeeper from Araghar, Aakash Sharma said that he set up his stall to sell Holi items late this year considering people mostly buy products just a few days before Holi. “The business was fine last year but it might be bad this time considering the increasing Covid-19 cases. However, there are also some new accessories which are available in the market to attract customer towards shopping for Holi amid the pandemic. Colourful caps, hairnets and hair covers are launched to attract young customers as well as the adults who can use these products as a safety measure,” stated Sharma. However, many local shopkeepers who run their shops in small localities stated that more people are coming to shop from their Holi stalls this year than the previous years in order to avoid visits to the crowded marketplaces.
Many local shopkeepers also disclosed that unlike last year, only a few people are enquiring about the products made in China. According to a local shopkeeper from Hanuman Chowk, “People were quite against the Chinese products like water guns and balloons last year and were continuously enquiring about each product they wanted to purchase. However, only a few people actually asked us about the origin country of the product this year. The presence of Chinese products has certainly decreased in the market in the last few years during Holi but people are not reluctant to buy them as much they were in last Holi.”
Friday, 26 March 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
