Shradh period affects malls in Chandigarh

‘Shradh’, the period when homage is paid to ancestors and which is considered an inauspicious time by many for making new purchases, has taken the sheen off from the business of multiplexes.

Officials from various multiplexes in the region said that footfalls since last few days had come down indicating that shradh period was affecting their business.

It seems the multiplexes were caught unaware as none had made any provision to withstand the impact of the shradh period. The officials added that though they knew that business could be affected, none realised that the impact could be so huge.

Khair Ul Nissa, general manager (sales and marketing), Paras Down Town Square, said that footfalls in the malls had been on the lower side in the past weekend. “We usually get around 15,000 footfalls every weekend but this time it has gone down by 5-10 per cent,” he said.

Similarly, Rupesh Garg, general manager (marketing), Fun Republic, Chandigarh, said footfalls at the multiplex had declined by 20-25 per cent.

Garg attributed the reason to mix of shradh period that was impacting the footfalls in the malls and also less business being generated by multiplexes.

“With movies under big banner not coming in the last few days, it definitely has had an impact on the strength of people flocking the multiplexes, thus affecting the footfalls,” Garg added.