Shopkeepers warn of closures as online sales, rising costs choke festive business
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Sep 26: Shillong’s markets are in free fall, with sales plunging by nearly 70 percent this festive season—a crash that shopkeepers say could force many to shut down if conditions persist for another six to eight months.
The once-bustling pre-Puja rush has been replaced by deserted streets and anxious traders struggling to stay afloat.
For many, the season that usually brings in lakhs has been reduced to mere survival.
“During the season I would normally sell lakhs, but now I am doing only twenty to thirty thousand,” said Zaheruddin Ahmed owner of JK Collection on GS Road while speaking to The Shillong Times.
He attributed a mix of factors for the collapse. Online shopping continues to lure customers away, while the improved Shillong-Guwahati road has encouraged many to head to Guwahati’s malls, where discounts are aplenty. Easy bank loans for cars and mobiles are also tightening household budgets, with people choosing to repay EMIs instead of spending in local markets.
“It doesn’t even feel like the festive season,” said Kunal Mordani of Desire, noting that sales had fallen by about 60-70 percent.
With Puja just two days away, he admitted there was little chance of recovery.
Mordani also highlighted Shillong’s worsening traffic situation, saying many customers now avoided crowded areas altogether. He added that a fall in tourist arrivals this year had further reduced footfall.
Other traders say the slump is unlike anything they have experienced before. “The market is so unexpectedly down, I have never seen such a condition. I have been in business since 2001 and never faced such poor sales,” said MD Afaque Qureshi.
He explained that the problem was not limited to the festive season as the entire year, including the school season, had seen weak sales, with online platforms cutting deeply into traditional business.
The owner of Krishna Clothing, Vikash, echoed the concern.
“The market is very slow this year and we don’t know how to go about it. We were hoping Puja would improve things, but it is really bad. People don’t have money to spend, everything is expensive, and incomes are limited. Online is also hurting us badly,” he said, adding bluntly that he did not believe the situation would improve in the immediate future. With shopkeepers bracing for losses and customers keeping their wallets closed, Shillong’s festive markets stand at a precarious crossroads. Unless confidence returns and spending revives, traders fear the city’s retail economy could face one of its harshest seasons in living memory.
