100-yr-old Bisati Bazaar loses its cosmetic touch

Shivani Bhakoo

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 31

Shopkeepers at Bisati Bazaar in the interior part of the city daily open shops and pray for a better day, but customers are nowhere to be seen. If shop owners are to be believed they retun empty-handed in the evening due to lack of footfall.

‘We go empty-handed daily’

We are opening our shops daily. We sit and go empty-handed. It is a congested market where none cares for practising social distancing. At times, people roam without masks. Nobody knows when things will improve. — Honey Kapoor, from Ricky Lakshmi Store

Bisati Bazaar is an Urdu word used for seller of cosmetics and make-up products. This is around 100-year-old market and houses approximately 40 shops.

Honey Kapoor from Ricky Lakshmi Store said it’s not a wise decision to open markets when Covid-19 positive cases are increasing on a daily basis.

“We are opening shops daily. We sit and go empty- handed. It is a congested market where none cares for practising social distancing. At times, people roam without masks. Nobody knows when things will improve,” he said.

Sandeep Tangri of New White House said no marriages are taking place. “Cosmetics are procured from domestic market as well as from China. At present, customers are not keen on buying products, but condition will improve,” said Tangri.

Lakhan Ahuja from Shri Lakhshmi Traders from Bagh Khazanchian near Bisati Bazaar said most cosmetics and accessories are imported from China.

“Many of us are thinking of changing business. We are wholesale dealers. Items used in salons are in demand, but limited people are buying for cosmetics. Covid-19 has hit our trade hard,” he said.