Cochin Night Shopping flops

KOCHI: The much-hyped ‘Cochin Night Shopping’ organised as part of the Grand Kerala Shopping Festival has turned out to be a failure, with majority of the shops remaining shut at night.The shops on the M G Road and Broadway, which are considered to be the hub of shoppers, have been bringing their shutters down after the being open for regular hours. The idea behind the night shopping was to add colour to the festive spirit of the tourists and shoppers, however, one can hardly see any tourists or shoppers on the streets at night.Four days into the night shopping festival, the traders do not seem enthusiastic to keep their stores open late into the night. Kerala Merchants Union president Venkatesh Pai said that the Cochin Night Shopping is not a success. “How can the owners open their shops when they are not even getting enough business during the regular timings? The economic recession had impacted on the business,” he said.Night shopping cannot be evolved all of a sudden or in just a single day. “We have already told the administration that it would be difficult to create a night shopping culture all of a sudden in a city like Kochi where people nest home early,” Pai said.Moreover, he noted that it could be difficult for the owners to ask the labourers to stay back late in the night. “A good number of labourers are women and it would be difficult for the shop owners,” he quipped. Recalling the experiences of the three-day night shopping held about six years ago, he said that the night shopping held during the Onam days could not succeed. “It has to be noted that it was Onam and only 30 per cent of the shops were open. This only shows that night shopping is not a success,” he said.However, District Collector Sheikh Pareeth said that the night shopping cannot be called a failure. “The restaurants and bakeries are open in the nights,” he said. However, he added that textile shops which were open in the first days of the night shopping had to close down as they did not get enough customers.Kerala Chambers of Commerce and Industry Chairman Deepak L Aswani said that the Cochin Night Shopping is not a failure. “Many shops are open in the night. In Edappally area and M G Road, the shops are open till 11 pm. Some of the textile shops are also open,” he said. Referring to the M G stretch, he said the road is a hub of gold merchants. “The gold merchants have refused to open the shops on the basis of security. Moreover, they need three to four hours for stock verification,” he said.