50,000 shops close down in Bengaluru as businesses fail to pick up

Bengaluru: The COVID-19 has effected the business sectors globally. 50,000 shops in Bengaluru have closed permanently while others are on the verge of closure if sales don’t pick up in the upcoming festive season.

Footwear, ready made garments, mobile accessories, stationery are among the several sectors that got effected due to pandemic.

K Janardhan, President of The Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) said to TOI: There are around 4 Lakh shops in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limits of which 12% – 15% have closed while 8% – 10 % are on verge of closure. To-Let Boards are seen hanging outside shops. Mounting rental dues are the reasons of closure in many cases.

A majority of the shops were rented by those from other states and Kannadigas from outside Bengaluru. “It was a double blow for them as they had to pay rents of their houses as well as shops. When business is not even 25 per cent of pre-Covid times, How can they sustain?” Janardhan added.

Thousands of tenants couldn’t pay monthly rent due to lack of business. “I haven’t paid rent since April. My shop was closed through April and May owing to the lockdown. Though I have reopened it, there are no customers,” said Vishwajit, owner of a readymade garments store in Sanjaynagar told TOI.

BJP MLA and owner of Garuda Mall Uday Garudachar said four shops have been vacated in the past two months in his mall. The tenants are finding it difficult to pay rent as they have no business for four months.

“Knowing their (tenants’) situation, we are not insisting on rent. At Garuda mall, we are only collecting core area maintenance charges from tenants, which are minimal. It’s time for us to cooperate with one another,” he said to TOI.

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