Disappointment for some, other sweet sellers hopeful of better business on the weekend

Though most of the sweet sellers stated that the sale of sweets is low this Deepawali due to Covid-19, some sellers opined that people have changed their ways of buying the sweets post covid. According to a sweet seller on Sahastradhara Road, Deepak Gulati, the business is only about 50 per cent compared to the last year. “People are buying more sweets presently than the usual days in the pandemic but in comparison to the previous year, the business profit is almost half,” said Gulati.

Another sweet seller from Raipur, Ganesh Rawat stated that most of the locals are buying prepacked sweets rather than the sweets put in open display in the shops. “We used to put sweets in a display outside our shop for people to choose and buy but most of the consumers asked us to pack the sweets kept inside the shops. So we put all the sweets back in the shops. Till now, I have sold only about 80 kilogrammes of sweets since Thursday which used to be around 200 kilogrammes to 300 kilogrammes every year. I have even bought packed sweets of other brands to sell to customers,” said Rawat. Talking about the sale of sweets, the president of Dehradun Halwai Association and owner of Anandam Group, Anand Gupta stated that the sale is going pretty well in his stores. It was about 60 percent to 70 per cent till Friday but it will probably increase to over 80 per cent on the weekend, said Gupta. He added that since people have become more aware of hygiene post Covid, they also observe what kind of hygiene is being maintained and provided by any seller on its premises. “I think the percentage of profitable business done by sweet shops during the pandemic also depends on important things like maintaining social distancing, use of masks and sanitisers and good quality products. When anybody arrives in our shop without a mask or say they forgot the mask, we do not scold them or send them back, we provide them mask. Besides, we sell sweets to customers while maintaining proper physical distance among everyone present in the shop,” said Gupta. Meanwhile, most of the sweet sellers have mentioned best before date with their display of sweets in the shops as per the guidelines of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

However, most of the small scale sweet sellers are still not following the guidelines. Responding to this, Gupta said that though most of the sweet sellers are mentioning the best before dates in their shops, small scale sweet sellers who are illiterate or work alone might take more time to follow the instructions.

Saturday, 14 November 2020 | PNS | Dehradun