WITH Deepavali just a few days away, traders said seasonal business has not been booming.

Back in business again after a one-year break because of the Covid-19 epidemic, traders in Little India in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur – the traditional venue for festive shopping – said they have not been able to cover costs so far.

The number of shoppers, they added, have dropped almost 70% compared to pre-Covid-19 times.

Fear of contracting Covid-19 and the bad weather have deterred shoppers from visiting, they added.

Thilagavathi Suppiah, 38, who does henna art, said business has dropped by two-thirds this year.

“Despite many sectors reopening, people are still scared to go out as Covid-19 cases are still in the four-digit range.

“Not everyone in the family is out shopping. This has resulted in very few customers,” she said.

She said the wet weather is keeping people away.

Prema Latha, 30, who sells prayer items, said the crowd this year is definitely smaller.

“One of the main reasons is the wet weather. It has been raining almost every day now,” she said.

Athi Parameswary, 34, who sells traditional clothes with her mother, however, said business has been relatively good despite the weather though she has yet to cover her costs as well.

“I am sure I’ll be able to make enough to cover my costs in the next couple of days,” she said.

“The weekend crowd is good but I hope parents will not bring their children  along as they are running everywhere without their face masks. I have had a few customers who had complained about their behaviour,” she said.

A supervisor at Bollywood Fashion and & Fashion Jewellery, who introduced himself as Abdul Kadir, said the presence of the traders has not affected his business much.

“These traders only operate for a couple of weeks in a year so it is okay,” he said.

He added that most of these traders have their own customers while the bigger shops serve a different set of clientele.

According to P. Thinakaran, who is Persatuan Prihatin Little India Brickfields secretary, 60 lots were allotted to the traders but only 30 were taken up.

“Many traders have not been able to get their supplies and this is one of the reasons for the poor take-up of lots.

He said that while a large crowd was apparent during weekends, they disappeared quickly when the rain came.

All traders are issued with their own MySejahtera QR code and told to strictly adhere to the standard operating procedure (SOP), he added.

“There are also authorities here on standby every day to make sure the SOP is adhered to.”

Good crowd, little business

Businesses in Klang’s Little India – another Deepavali sales hotspot – are seeing good crowds but traders have complained of poor sales.

“Many people come to shop but the volume of purchases have dropped this year compared to two years ago,” said traditional clothes seller P Mariappan.

A neighbouring vendor, K. Alice, who sells decorative items, agreed.

“We saw better sales two years ago. This year, they are coming but they are buying less, or buying cheaper stuff,” she said.

She believes this is the case for all traders.

V. Arasu, who runs a departmental store in Balakong, said business has been very good since they started their Deepavali sale some weeks ago.

“People have money to buy, not just clothes, but also decorative items. However, we can see that they are being careful in their spending,” he said.

He said apart from new clothes, the best selling items are traditional cookies such as muruku, achi muruku and nei urundai. – November 2, 2021.