Visakhapatnam: Big rush @ apparel stores
Ahead of Sankranthi, a shopping mall bursting at the seams in Visakhapatnam. Photo: Vasu Potnuru
Visakhapatnam: After a long pause, standalone stores, retail outlets and shopping malls across the city are bursting at the seams.
The reason for this seems to be plenty. One, Sankranti is just a few days away. Two, offers and discounts at apparel outlets catch the eye of shoppers. Three, weekends for many includes shopping. Four, the wallets of the salaried-class are not drained out as it is still the second week of the month. Though a majority of the consumers stick to online shopping, the brick and mortar retailers saw a sharp increase in shoppers in recent days.
Sankranti or 'Pedda Panduga' in Andhra Pradesh or 'Pongal' in Tamil Nadu brings out myriad hues of festival tradition and culture. The three-day festivities mark the beginning of the new harvest season, ushering in positivity and abundance.
Worshipping the Sun God for a bountiful harvest is the tradition followed across communities during Sankranti.
For many Telugu families, indulging in shopping forms part of the pre-festival celebrations. As a result, apparel retailers register impressive walk-ins this weekend.
With the coronavirus cases continuing to recede in the recent past, shoppers barge into the malls and retail outlets to bring home a bagful of their favourite brands. However, in the garb of festival indulgence, Covid-19 safety protocols are given a skip.
For many, masks turned out to be a 'mere' accessory either for their neck or chin. The concept of maintaining social distance has been forgotten as scores of shoppers, who converged to grab the best of the festival offers at malls, hardly maintain distance from one another. From the billing counters to the floors that exhibit assorted products, there is literally no place left sans the crowd.
Even as the retail showrooms are striking a deal like the pre-Covid times, what appears to be a troublesome factor is that despite the threat of the second wave of the pandemic and the new Covid-19 mutant triggering global panic, many have let their guard down.