The coronavirus crisis has been a severe blow to the economy.
New Delhi:
Just six months ago, a battery of breathtaking titles conferred India’s most expensive retail space title on Delhi’s legendary Khan Market. Today, the exclusive two-storey U-shaped complex in the middle of the bungalows and apartments reserved for legislators and senior officials is out of breath because of a crisis that no one has seen coming.
Despite its uneven paving stones, its mass of overhead cables and its narrow stairways and entrances, global real estate consultant Cushman & Wakefield had ranked Khan Market 20th in the list of the most expensive retail stores in the world with an annual rent of $ 243 or 18 500 per m² ft last November.
A shabby shopping center originally built to house refugees in the heart of New Delhi and named in honor of Abdul Jabbar Khan, brother of “Frontier Gandhi” Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Khan’s market in recent years has made faced with much derision as the den of the English-speaking elite of India painted in opposition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP.
Mainly frequented by New Delhi politicians, lawyers, senior officials and journalists, its restaurants mainly served foreign food, even everyday products in grocery stores were much more expensive than in other parts of the city. city, and the big luxury brands had moved more and more. in.
Khan Market has several chic retail stores and restaurants in central Delhi.
But no influence has been sufficient to isolate it from the abrasive realities of a global pandemic and the sudden national blockade, literally imposed overnight, two months after the coronavirus reached the Indian coast.
In recent days, at least three of its well-known establishments have been publicly announced that they will close permanently even as the government finally allows plans to gradually exit a 10-week lockout.
The popular Full Circle bookstore and cafe and Cafe Turtle, which opened 20 years ago, announced that after several rounds of negotiations with the Khan Market Traders’ Association and the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), the decided to close. operations.
Priyanka Malhotra, owner of the three-story cafe and bookstore, said that would have been a difficult task to pursue. After struggling in the dark since the start of the pandemic, it was difficult to find a clear solution that was fair to all, she said.
How to maintain a social distance in a bookstore with a coffee? How do tenants and landlords reach fair deals at a time when there is virtually no income generation due to blockages? These are among the many difficult questions, said Priyanka, that many restaurateurs or owners of small cafes are also struggling as the government moves forward with a gradual “unlocking”.
The coronavirus crisis was an unprecedented blow to the food and hospitality industry.
Full Circle and Cafe Turtle were followed by Smoke House Deli and Side Wok restaurants. According to the owners of several stores in the market, these times are the most difficult that the food and hospitality industry has ever faced.
The Khan Market Traders’ Association said it was trying to mediate between owners and tenants to find mutually acceptable terms. Mall owners and other landlords across the country have waived or significantly reduced the rent so tenants won’t move out. Many know that they will not be getting new tenants at this time.
“We tried to mediate between the owners and the tenants. We asked the owners to give a discount during the foreclosure but now the tenants must also come forward because the owners’ livelihood depends on the rent received,” said said the president of the traders’ association, Sanjiv Mehra.
Store owners have also expressed resentment that, even if they face an additional financial burden to comply with official guidelines and safety standards, the government has offered little or no support to them.
The closing of stores in the Khan market left many regular customers nostalgic. “I used to regularly visit stores like Smoke House Deli, Café Turtle. These places were like a second home. Watching them close is heartbreaking,” said Ankit Bharti.
