There was a time when Puja shopping was an experience, not a transaction. The boundless energy with which one visited store after store for that perfect top, the excitement one had while placing a sari on one’s shoulder and glancing at the mirror, the impatience of having bought five new clothes but being forced to wait till Sashthi to wear them…. Alas! Covid-19 has snatched away a much-loved precursor to Durga puja.

“I’m not getting any motivation to shop this year,” says Trina Kar Dutta of CF Block. “It seems like a waste of money. Maybe I’ll buy something for my little daughter and her cousins but I don’t feel like gifting anything to adults in the family. I mean we’re not even sure if anyone would go out during the festival.”

Nishita Prasad, a resident of Shrachi Greenwood, used to frequent City Centre 2 previously but this year she’s in no mood to shop. “I don’t want to spend much. I have a job but so many of my friends have lost theirs. Almost every friend I have has lost a family member to Covid. How can I celebrate?” she asks.

But it is not all gloom and doom. Many stores have taken up the challenge of luring customers back, even if it means rewriting every rule in the book.

Stores come home

The Lifestyle outlet of Axis Mall has been sending out “canter vans” loaded with clothes to housing complexes for shoppers to browse. “Since shoppers are not venturing out, we are taking clothes to them,” says Ricky Paul of Navkrit Brand Solutions event management group that has been supervising the project.

They started with Balaka Abasan a few weeks ago and have covered Club Town, Greenwood Park, Greenfield Ambition etc. “We are conducting these exhibitions everyday and response is reasonably good on weekends.”

A new design of mask-cum-dupatta launched by Pratyasha boutique in AE Block for the Pujas Saradindu Chaudhury

Fabindia has been doing the same. “We’re surveying complexes with over 300 flats and if response is encouraging, we are booking their community hall for the weekend, displaying our apparel and home interior items (which by the way have overtaken apparel sales during the pandemic),” says manager of the City Centre branch, Meghna Rathi. Their online sales are doing well too.

Almost every store is circulating pictures of their products over WhatsApp and some are providing home delivery too. “If a customer shows interest in some pictures, we send over videos or do video calls to show the anchal, body, pleats of the sari. Even if the customer cannot touch the sari herself, we do our best to make her get the feel,” says Vinita Khemka of Vermilion sari store that has branches in both the City Centres.

Tamosha Mukherjee, who runs the family clothing stores Srimaa and Sri Ramakrishna Asish in CK Market, is offering complimentary falls and pico stitching on saris and even going blouse-hunting to different shops on the customers’ behalf. “Sixty per cent customers are now opting for this system and we are sending the clothes to their homes, along with credit card machines. Other customers are fixing appointments and coming at, maybe, 10pm and shopping till 11.30 when the market is empty.”

Corona-special collection

Old favourites like silk have tough competition this year. “People want thick cotton outfits as they think that’ll protect them best against coronavirus,” says Sanchita Gupta of the Sanchita’s store in F Block, City Centre. “But they are rigorously washing clothes after every use and the colours are fading fast. So chiffon is the next alternative.”

Almost every store keeper said comfortable daily wear is selling more than gorgeous outfits this year. At Sanchita’s, leggings are selling more than anything else! “I think this is because the leggings are losing shape after intense washing,” she says.

Paul’s Creation in BG Block, too, is taking care not to stock items with sequins and the like as they are get ruined after repeated washing.

“What is selling well is a new design of kurtis with pockets on both sides,” says Chaiti Paul. “Besides the phone, women need space to keep sanitisers on themselves now.”

Mask sale overtakes sari

“I have no high hopes from saris this year but masks I’m selling several every day. This is the only fresh investment I’ve made after the lockdown and it’s paying off,” says Pampa Das of Pratyasha boutique, opposite AE Market.

Pampa has, in fact, created some special variations of masks for the Pujas. “The Rs 270 ‘marf’ is a mask-cum-scarf or dupatta in kalamkari and ajrak material and for Rs 250 I’m selling hair net-and-mask sets,” she shows.

Sanchita would initially find the idea of matching masks with clothing ridiculous but she’s finally bowed down to requests. “Someone even asked if I could paint Durga’s face on a mask! I’m sure even the idols will be wearing masks this year,” she shakes her head.

Ruchira Roy Ganguli of IA Market’s Srija Boutique had always associated masks with something doctors wore. “But when things got out of hand, I had to forward YouTube links teaching mask-making to my staff as it was the only thing that would sell,” she says. “Masks are more necessary than new clothes this year and that’s where I’m putting my money.”

Itu Upadhaya of Face boutique in City Centre has started gifting khadi masks to her customers who are often returning to buy more.

Shoppers at City Centre on the last Sunday of September Gautam Bose

Tale of jobless tailors

This time of the year in 2019, tailors like Azad Narul were neck-deep in work stitching blouses. This year they are miserable. “We used to get orders from households across Salt Lake, Kestopur and Ultadanga but till recently no one would even let us in. We were treated like pariah dogs,” Narul says.

But with the festive and wedding seasons approaching, he has regained about 40 per cent of his business. “But we are having to compromise on our rates now,” he sigh.

Ruchira of Srija Boutique had two tailors — one to stitch kurtis, lehengas, salwars and the other for designer blouses. “The latter is in hiding in his village since March so I cannot even invite customers to get blouses stitched for their new saris,” says the hapless resident of Purbachal. Her other tailor is working from home and comes once a week from Howrah for delivery.

Taking measurements is another challenge at a time when social distancing is advocated. “We’re asking customers to give us samples of their shirts or trousers but if they cannot, we are wearing masks and gloves to take measurements and then sanitising the measuring tape,” says Dipankar Saha of the exclusive gents’ Jiko Tailor in CA Market. “But the Pujas have proved to be a festival big enough to make customers step out of their homes. Before that, there was no business.”

Pampa’s tailoring unit used to mint money before the Pujas but this year she has shut it down completely.

No entry to trial rooms

Almost no store is allowing shoppers to try out clothes before buying. This is having a negative impact on sales but some brands are trying to overcome it.

Paul’s Creation has kept trial outfits for men and women of all sizes —and is requesting customers to try them out for an idea of what would fit them. “Even then, most customers are scared to try them out,” says Chaiti.

Fabindia has started a scheme whereby customers can select clothes to be sent over to their homes for trials. “Should they like the product, the sale is happening on the spot,” says Meghna.

Stock clearance

“Puja collection? I’m still stuck with Poila Baisakh collection that went unsold due to the lockdown,” says Pampa. “Akshay Tritiya is a time of huge sales at my store but we couldn’t open then. I’m trying to push these now.”

Itu, a government-registered katha and batik artisan, would hold exhibitions around the country through the year and is also stuck with heaps of unsold stock. “Since exhibitions are out of question now I decided to open this new shop in September to push sales,” says the lady who has decorated her City Centre F Block store with Puja theme.

Then there are those like Ruchira who are unable to source indigo, ajrak, bagru cotton smoothly since the pandemic started. “Suppliers are faltering,” she says.

“The mills of Bangalore are shut due to lack of demand,” says Tamosha, who is also not getting all material. “These mills are expensive to run and, at a time produce, say 30,000m of cloth. They will incur losses if they have to produce only 15,000m and are hence not running the machines at all.”

Window-shopping

Though customers have started visiting malls, a spokesperson from Pantaloons City Centre 2 said most of them were window shoppers.

“People come, look at a few items and leave. We are allowing them to use trial rooms but they are too scared. Even if they like something, they say they have nowhere to wear them to and walk away.”

Till last year, Max Fashion in City Centre 2 had to hire extra security to manage the pre-Puja crowd but this year the store wears a lonely look. “Many people have lost their jobs and can’t spend as freely as they would earlier. The difference is startling,” said a staff of the outlet.
Sanchita says regular customers who would buy 10 clothes for the Pujas previously are now buying no more than four.

Pampa says no one is interested in spending on themselves at such a gloomy time. “They’ve cut down on gifting relatives too. If anything, they are buying saris that domestic helps will demand and saris that they would offer during the rituals,” she says.

A canter van displaying clothes of Axis Mall’s Lifestyle brand in the parking lot of Balaka Abasan Sourced by the Telegraph

Cheaper items in demand

Not just the number of clothes, the price range of clothes has seen sharp fall too. “We have saris ranging from Rs 1,000 to 25,000 but no one is nearing the upper end now,” says Vinita of Vermilion.

Itu says customers who would foot bills of Rs 20,000 before the Pujas are barely exceeding Rs 5,000 now. “Previously Puja shopping meant a Rs 4,000-5000 tussar sari for oneself and saris worth Rs 2,500 for gifting others. Now Rs 2,500 is the upper limit for oneself and the gifting budget has fallen to Rs 500 or 1,000,” she says.

Sanchita, who sources much of her materials from Assam, would grant 20 per cent discount to regular customers before the Pujas but this year she is allowing it for everyone and that too till Diwali.

Mixed bag

Far from reaping profits, Chaiti says it is a challenge for clothing outlets to stay afloat this year. “Expenses are more than sales what with the added cost of sanitising the space after every customer’s visit,” she says.

Pampa recalls how she would look forward to meeting customers, chatting and joking with them alongside making a sale. “Sharing pictures on WhatsApp and receiving payment in exchange is a mechanical process devoid of any emotion. The year 2020 is a disaster!” she says.

Ruchira of Srija Boutique shares her grief. “No one comes with the intent of Puja shopping these days. They simply peep into the store on the way to buy vegetables. But to be fair, it’s only the other day that the government confirmed that the festival would be held in the first place, so maybe shoppers will come about now.”

Itu says the last two weekends the parking lot at City Centre had been full and that senior citizens as well as children had now started coming.

Fabindia is trying to enforce a seven-at-a-time rule inside the store. “But additional customers are barging in, throwing caution to the wind,” says Meghna. “Sales have been much better than we expected, almost 50 to 60 per cent of last year. Shopaholics under lockdown for seven months are now at large and also people who go for vacations during the Pujas are now spending that money on clothes.”

Additional reporting by Showli Chakraborty