Karol Bagh mkt still wears a dreary look

Heavy discounts, trendy collections at famous Karol Bagh market here are a common sight these days, all to attract back local customers. The famous marketplace, however, is unable to regain its past tourist rush after the complete reopening of national capital.

Karol Bagh market, known for wedding collections from apparels to footwear, is waiting for customers to swarm its shopping corners. To attract back customers and local visitors, many shops are now offering heavy discounts on bridal collections and hoping to recover financial losses endured due to Covid second wave.

Manna Lal, who runs a bridal shop near Gaffar market, Karol Bagh, told Bizz Buzz: "The market had picked up quite well in last November to March this year. During those times as well, we offered heavy discounts to bring in customers. We are offering similar discounts now, but we can't lower the prices any further."

Like other shop owners, Manna Lal is apprehensive of earning any profits this year as the sole purpose of carrying any business remains to cover financial losses incurred in the last 11 weeks.

59-year-old Asha Prasad, who sells currency garland in the market, manages to earn a little over Rs500 per day since the prospect of any weddings taking place remains low in the national capital.

"You can see that there is a crowd, but not the usual number of people have come here on weekend. Neither returning to my native place is an option nor staying here. There is no job or earning opportunities back in the village as well. So, we carry on with our usual day to day business here," Prasad said.

Similar to other famous shopping spaces in Delhi, most visitors throng Karol Bagh to catch a glimpse of the latest products available at the flea markets. Though most do not buy the available items.

Vinay Sharma, a 24-year-old IT employee, said: "During college days, this was a favourite place to purchase garments. It still offers good apparels, but I am a bit skeptical to try them on. It's a flea market, an open space. I don't really know how well sanitised are these open market spaces."