The year 2020 has seen the worst Eid sale season in the history of Pakistan due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Shahzad Mobin, CEO, Walkeaze thinks trading in the city this Eid-ul-Fitr will barely cross the mark of Rs10 billion.
He pointed out that some 40 major shopping malls of the city are being kept closed because they are centrally air-conditioned. “The novel coronavirus can spread quickly in centrally air-conditioned places.”
He said there are 18 famous business points in Karachi, most of which have already been closed due to violations of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the Sindh government.
“Apart from the children, generally, no elder in the family has gotten clothes stitched or purchased them readymade. Just because of the happiness of their children, limited families are purchasing clothes, as they don’t have any savings left due to the two-month lockdown.”
He request that the government increase the hours of trading after Iftar. “The operating hours are low due to which customer flow is a lot and SOP are being neglected because of that. Please I would like you to request and discuss for an increase in closure timing for at least 2am or 24 hours so SOP could be easily followed. If the hours are increased, shoppers will not throng the markets in large numbers.
