DURGA PUJA, in all its hue and splendour, evokes a spirit of joie de vivre. People spend at will during this time of the year to herald the festive season. Year 2009, too, would have seen the cup of spirits overflowing if Lehman Brothers did not happen. The fall of Lehman Brothers signalled the beginning of the worst and most widespread recession since the Great Depression.

The economic downturn has left its telltale signs even in the shopping spirits of Guwahatians. The shops in Guwahati are not exactly abuzz with activity. And it is a mixed bag of fortune for the shopkeepers. The Spark footwear shop in Fancy Bazaar wore a deserted look. Said salesman Montu Deka, “No sale for puja. Business is down due to recession.” The shop owners in Shoppers Point were unanimous in stating that sales this year was totally on the wane. Recession and spiralling price rise have combined to play spoilsport.

Leave aside the middle-class, even the rich are not exactly on a shopping spree this time. Kishan Rupani, owner of Dynamite (children and ladies wear shop), stated, “Puja sales are down. We are still hoping that it will pick up because Eid and Puja are falling in succession. Price rise and global meltdown have affected us. To make things worse, people bargain a lot these days as they have become very conscious due to the consumer awareness programmes.” He went on to say that malls were also burning a hole in their sales. “But the flip side is that in malls people have to wait in long queues to make payments.”

BL Aggarwal of ‘Parivartan’ felt that the villain of the piece was not recession, but the marketing gimmicks of the ‘the brands’. “Is it possible to give two dresses free with one dress, and all at Rs 899? The people do not realise that they are not getting anything free. The individual price of one garment comes to only Rs 200. It is due to such ‘eyewash’ strategy that people flock to the malls. The people are just being taken for a ride,” he went on to explain.

Recession or no recession, one can always see customers swarming Goenka Traders in Fancy Bazaar. Nevertheless, the owner, Vinod Goenka, said, “Weekends saw a spurt in sale. But the ‘puja rush’ is missing. With prices hitting the roof, will people shop for essentials or buy clothes?” Vinod informed that his shop deals with the middle-class segment, and the economic downturn has hit this section hard. Even if puja shopping picks up during the last few days, the quantum of sale will be less.” However, he ended on a positive note, saying that despite recession, people will do the minimum shopping for puja.

The employees in the malls – Salasar mega store and Bazaar Kolkata in Fancy Bazaar – did not agree that recession would affect puja sales. KP Jajodia, manager of Bazaar Kolkata, said that sale was brisk in his store. “Not recession, but Metro Bazaar may hamper our sale,” he added. An employee of Salasar mega store said that recession was not making a dent in their sales. “People have the spending power here and the discount offers will help in boosting sales. Puja comes only once a year and people would want to spend for their near and dear ones. The ‘meltdown effect’ is that previously if people were buying stuff worth Rs 500, now they will come down to Rs 300 or even less,” he said.

The owner of apparel shops in Babu Bazaar painted a very gloomy picture. Said J Das, “These days, after buying food and medicine, 80% people are hardly left with money to buy other stuff. For Bengalis, it is a part of their tradition to buy clothes during Durga Puja. They will buy clothes even on loan. Muslims are also coming due to Eid. But, we have very few Assamese customers coming in this time. The overall picture is not good at all.” Sumit Das, owner of ‘Kalyani’ in Gunahari Bazaar, rued, “In the previous years, our employees did not even get time to have lunch. Today, they are sitting idle.” He did not buy the idea that malls or marketing gimmicks was harming the sale of stand-alone shops like his.

Pradip Kumar Bhattacharya, owner of a shop in Babu Bazaar, said that the middle-class always preferred to buy from the footpath hawkers as the stuff came cheap.

The shopkeepers of Fancy Bazaar said in unison that lack of parking facility has also badly affected their business. They agreed that people would not want to park their cars in Pan Bazaar and come walking all the way to Fancy Bazaar. The manager of Salasar store suggested that a permanent parking hub should be set up in Jail Road, which has a lot of open space. The shopkeepers also said that too much of security check in Fancy Bazaar – wherein people’s bags were almost ransacked – was a big ‘put-off’ for the people.

The shopkeepers in Ganeshguri area also said that “business was down.”

The floor manager of Fabindia’s outlet in Uzan Bazaar, Farhana Hazarika, was in a very positive mood. Fabindia specialises in cotton wear. They also keep a few stocks of silk and woollen attire during winter. Said Farhana, “Recession is not affecting us at all. Our fixed clientele is from the upper-class who respect the cotton culture. The cotton culture has not crept into the middle-class. Last year, we had tremendous sales. This year, too, we are expecting vigorous sale .” Fabindia also dabbles in furnishings and personal care products.

The malls on GS Road like Hub – which caters to young professionals – were very optimistic about puja sale. Mukesh Sharma, General Manager of Hub, said, “Recession is not going to affect us. We did good business during the weekends and the build-up is good.” But the employee of a branded showroom, Cantabil (menswear), Amit Sharma, had a different story to tell. “Sale is not good. In June-July, sale was good. But, after August 15, it has reached rock bottom. Even schemes like ‘70 % off’ and ‘Buy 1 Get 1 Free’ have not been able to pull customers. Recession has hit us where it hurts.”

Most of the people who frequented malls like Hub and Big Bazaar said that recession and price rise had made a huge impact on their buying capacity. Sikha Chakraborty, a housewife a who had come shopping to Big Bazaar, fumed, “Price rise and recession are giving us real trying times. Since I am a Bengali, I will have to do puja shopping. But, it will be in a very low-key manner.” She was quick to add that it was fun shopping in Fancy Bazaar than in the malls. In fact, a cross-section of upper middle-class people interviewed, too, said that they preferred Fancy Bazaar to the spiffy malls any day. Moreover, due to recession, they were indulging more in window shopping rather than ‘real buying’. Payal Bhattacharjee said that since Durga Puja was a big event for the Bengalis, shopping was a ‘must-must’. “But, this year we have restricted it to the children. The elders will do without it,” she added. For Usha Das, a homemaker, “Recession and price rise have nothing to do with festivities.” Veena Malhotra is of the view that people would definitely do puja shopping “but, with a shoestring budget due to the recession.” Danisha, a housewife, said that though people were shopping, the “crowd is missing as things are too expensive.” Most of the people interviewed were of the view that it was better to shop in Fancy Bazaar rather than in the swanky malls because “one could bargain.” In malls, the “comfort factor” is there, but “things are very expensive and in the sale offers, the quality is suspect.”

Year 2009 has not seen pre-puja shopping spirits at a high. Though the economy is on the path to recovery, but the price rise is giving people a hard time. Nevertheless, people are showing the grit to weather the financial hardships of the last one year. Hope the coming festive season will trigger a change in sentiments and an economy showing robust signs of bouncing back will facilitate in pulling back the crowds to the shops.

B Parinita