Customers visit malls, restaurants as unlocking begins
   Date :08-Jun-2021

 mall restaurants _1 
 
 
Business Bureau ;
 
The visitors were spotted with masks, maintaining social distancing and sanitizing their hands 
 
The new set of unlocking norms being implemented from Monday gave a sigh of relief to restaurant and hotel owners and shop owners based in the city’s malls as customers started visiting these places. Soon after the doors of malls, restaurants and hotels in Sitabuldi, Sadar, Ramdaspeth, Gokulpeth and other localities opened their doors, customers started visiting the destinations. Housewives, youths and even senior citizens were seen paying visits to the facilities that remained closed for quite long. The visitors were spotted with masks, maintaining social distancing and sanitizing their hands. In malls, customers were seen shopping for footwear, ready-made garments and groceries. Interestingly, there was no fear among them while entering the mall. In fact, some of them were excited to visit the shopping destinations. People were not shying away from going to restaurants and eateries either.
 
Manish Agrawal, Chief Executive Officer of Big Bazaar, Eastern Zone, said customers were excited to visit the malls as it opened after a long gap in Nagpur. “It is a very nice feeling to see people coming to our facilities. We want to tell all the visitors that we are following all the guidelines issued by the authorities and thus it is safe to come here,” he said. Agrawal also said that there was no hesitation among the customers. Agrawal said Future Retail, which operates four Big Bazaar facilities and two fbb Stores in the city, saw satisfactory footfall on the first day of unlocking. “Though the footfall fall is not as high as it was before the pandemic but we are confident that it will increase significantly in coming days,” he said. Tejinder Singh Renu, President - Nagpur Residential Hotels Association (NRHA), expressed happiness over the Government’s decision to allow restaurants and bars to reopen with certain conditions.
 
“The hotel industry was one of the worst affected sectors because of the pandemic. But today the hotel and restaurant owners are happy,” he said. The owners do not expect occupancy in the restaurants and hotels to pick up right from the first day of reopening. However, they are more than satisfied as things have started falling in the right place for the sector. The district authorities have allowed dining in restaurants and hotels till 10.00 pm while the customers are being allowed to visit the mall till 5.00 pm.