01 September,2009 08:42 AM IST | | Shree Lahiri
City shops record 30 per cent drop in sale of sweets due to swine flu scare
Another change in trend is being blamed on the dreaded swine flu. After multiplexes, it is the turn of sweet shops to claim that the swine flu scare has caused drastic dip in sales, this Ganeshotsav.
Said Chelaram Choudhary, the manager of Badhai Sweets on Salunke Vihar Road, "Business is usually high during the Ganesh festival. But this year, sales have dropped by 30 per cent."
Reduced production
Prakash Athwani, proprietor of Karachi Sweet Mart on M G Road, said, "Every year, we stock namkeens, dry fruits and chocolates. We make around 10 varieties of modaks. But this year, demand has come down and so, we have reduced our production from 10 kg of each variety to just five kg."
Many women have opted to make sweets at home this year, instead of buying them from the city's sweet shops. Seema Kasbe (34), a professional from Vishrantwadi said, "Last year, I bought sweets for my family, but his year, I made modaks at home." Said Meena Gupta from Fatimanagar, "Apart from swine flu, recession has also affected us. I only spent Rs 400 on sweets this year. Last year, I spent around Rs 850."
