Pandemic fear keeps away seasonal traders

‘We are seeing very few Hindi-speaking merchants this year’

A significant decline in the number of seasonal traders to the city to set up temporary garment shops is perceptible this year due to the unstable market condition in the aftermath of the second wave of COVID-19.

Important commercial streets such as N.S.B Road, Big Bazaar Street, Nandi Koil Street, Singarathope that teem with large textile showrooms are also the favourite haunts of roadside vendors for their seasonal trade. While permanent showrooms attract customers from affluent to lower middle-class categories, economically poor customers entirely depend on the roadside vendors to purchase readymade garments. The commercial streets in the city would usually have a large presence of seasonal traders from Tiruppur, Erode, and Karur. Many traders from Kolkata, Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mumbai, Pune, Patna and Surat also set up temporary shops along the roadsides.