KOLKATA: City mall operators welcomed the state government restrictions that will allow the facilities to operate till 10pm and were thankful a shutdown was not declared like it was done during the first and second waves.
At the same time, they assured the government that malls would continue to strictly adhere to Covid measures and prevent the facilities from turning into hot spots.
The mall managers at South City, Acropolis, Quest, Mani Square and the two City Centres reworked on the mall timings following announcement of the new restrictions. With malls required to shut at 10pm, most of them have told retailers to down shutters by 9pm while restaurants will take the last order at 9.15 pm-9.30pm.
Acropolis plans to open an hour early at 10am instead of 11am to make up for lost business in the late evening. “Covid has taught us to be flexible and think on our feet,” said mall GM K Vijayan.
All malls will return to pre-Puja closure timings from Monday. “Footfall has declined already. Usually it is a lean period till mid-January,” said Quest mall vice-president Sanjeev Mehra.
South City, the city’s most popular mall that attracted upto nearly 65-70% of the capacity footfall during the peak periods ahead of Durga Puja and during Christmas, said it will ensure the visitor count does not breach the 50% mark. “We are allowing only fully vaccinated adults into the mall. We will continue to enforce mask and distancing protocol. There will be no let up on our part,” said mall VP Manmohan Singh.
