Now the shop owners want to pull up their shutters

Shop owners yesterday urged the commerce ministry to allow the opening of retail and wholesale stores from the first of May seeing that several garments factories were given the go-ahead to reopen.

Thanks to the countrywide shutdown since March 25 to flatten the spread of coronavirus, the store operators had to forfeit turnover to the tunes of Tk 6,000 to Tk 7,000 crore, according to National Association of Shop Owners of Bangladesh (NASOB).

And they can ill-afford to keep their shutters down during Ramadan that crescendos into Eid, the peak shopping season: they could lose up to Tk 22,000 crore in sales.

Yet, they were ready to keep their stores closed for the sake of protecting the lives of the staff and for the greater interest of the nation.

But when they saw that the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries has decided to restart garment factories and large industries, they could not hold back, said a letter submitted by NASOB Secretary General Md Jahirul Haque Bhuiyan to the commerce ministry.

Besides, the wholesale market Baburhat of Narsingdi has been opened recently, NASOB added.

"When you allow other business to resume, our members do not want to stay shut," said NASOB President Md Helal Uddin, told The Daily Star.

At a meeting at the FBCCI headquarters on 25 April, business leaders and experts said factories in the export-oriented industries should be allowed to reopen gradually for the sake of the economy.

They called for a quick decision in this regard, if necessary, by forming sector-wise taskforce.

Leaders from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association and other chambers and trade bodies attended the meeting.

Some 1,400 garment factories reopened the next day, even though there is no sign that the coronavirus outbreak has been contained in Bangladesh.

Seven more persons died of COVID-19 yesterday and there were 497 new cases, taking the tally of deaths to 152 and infections to 5,913 in the country.

Helal admitted that there is a risk of spread and infection but added that small shops did not get support from the government's stimulus package of nearly Tk 100,000 crore.

"Large businesses have got everything. But small business and wholesalers do have any scope to avail the support from the stimulus package," he said.

NASOB said the month-long closure wiped out income opportunity of shops. Their salesmen are passing very hard times, it said.

The shop owners demanded the government allow wholesale markets and shops to open from 10 am to 4 pm from May 1.

Bangladesh has 22 lakh shops and more than one crore people work in them across the country, according to Helal.