Big shops ship out, minnows stranded

Delhi sealing drive could push trade to satellite towns.

Big showrooms like Jagdish Stores, CTC Plaza, Bata and Yamaha have become famous for being the first on the sealing block.

A week on, Raj Sachdeva, store manager of the sealed Kilokri branch of garment store CTC Plaza sits outside the now-deserted premises waiting for some deliveries.

Since his shop was sealed a few days ago, his main job has been waiting for deliveries and ensuring his regular clients get their orders intact.

"We had shifted our things from the showroom a day before the sealing started and moved them to a store room in Greater Kailash and a couple of private houses for safekeeping," he said.

Sachdeva said his merchandise would be moved to CTC Plaza's other showroom in Ghaziabad. CTC Plaza will also open a showroom in DLF city in Gurgaon to counter the loss of the Ashram shop.

"We cannot use these premises for commercial purposes and since the showroom is on the main Ring Road with a huge amount of traffic we do not know who will live here," he said.

The whole stretch at Ashram wears a deserted look. "Those who got big enough to have shops elsewhere have at least managed to salvage something. The small shopkeepers in the area are the worst hit," said Sachdeva.

Outside the furnishings shop Jagdish Stores, security men are the only ones to be seen. "We have shifted most of our inventory to an adjacent building on Vikas Marg. We are yet to decide what to do with the things," said a store employee over telephone.

For Rajen Goyal of rustic theme restaurant Pind Baluchi in Lajpat Nagar, and Ashok Gadhia, whose tenants were the Bata shoe company and Yamaha Motors on Ashram Road, worries include where their employees will find work.

"I am moving my restaurant to Faridabad, which was to be the second Pind Baluchi branch, but I am more worried about how my employees are going to meet expenses in the meanwhile," said Goyal.

The irony that Pind Baluchi was to be named the best restaurant in south Delhi by the Delhi government before the sealing issue took precedence is not lost on Goyal.

While CTC Plaza managed to get most of its merchandise out because of warnings of sealing on television Gadhia said the Bata and Yamaha stores were not so lucky.

"They are my tenants and their things are still inside. I run my chartered accountancy service from the second floor of the building, which is anyway in designated commercial area. That is why we thought we would not be sealed," he said.

"We are sustaining losses to the tune of Rs 7,50,000 per month and at least 200 people have lost their employment due to the sealing," he said.

Superstore Ebony, which is facing sealing in South Extension, has reportedly moved its merchandise out. It faces the chopping block along with Grovers and Big Jo's, the other big shops in the area. Ebony's Vishal Solanki is understandably reticent and offers a "no comment" on future plans.