Retail traders who have been at the receiving end of the rapid growth of online commercial platforms and mall culture are again fighting a losing battle with the unrestricted entry of well-organised street traders in Kozhikode district. Traders on S.M. Street say that there are street traders who use bigger godowns to store goods and sell them at a lower price to challenge their licensed counterparts.
“About 30 retail shops under the Kunnamangalam unit of the Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samiti (KVVES) alone were closed down in a year unable to withstand the unfair competition in the sector. When we are forced to comply with numerous rules, another segment is flourishing flouting all rules and enjoying the protection of influential trade unions,” says M. Babu, a retail merchant and secretary of KVVES in Kozhikode district. He says Labour department records give details of retail shops closed in Kerala because of the changing scenario.
Demanding donations
Retail shop owners in the city say the authorities have taken no action to regulate street trading in front of the licensed retail shops. The authorised traders are on their way out, unable to bear the increasing rental charges, labour costs and tightened tax rules, they say. They also highlight the rise in the number of organisations seeking donations unmindful of the business crisis. Such requests are now being rejected straightaway citing falling returns. As part of cost-cutting measures, many retailers have also cut down on their employees.
Abdul Saleem, a retail trader and former functionary of the Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Samiti, says the closure of bigger industrial units like Grasim and Comtrust in Kozhikode city has crushed the retail sector. “The purchasing capacity of labourers in these large units had helped ordinary traders survive,” he adds.
Building owners flourish
An elderly merchant who recently wound up his business in the city following financial crisis says there is no clarity on the number of shops being closed as another trader takes over the same place for business immediately. “Only the building owners are flourishing as they get tenants every time at a higher rental rate,” he says.
People who took up retail business after losing their jobs during the pandemic period are also struggling. The segment includes a large number of Gulf-returnees and educated young entrepreneurs. They demand that the government at least set up a single window system to address retail traders’ issues.
