Elite malls remain open

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

Tuesday, April 27, 2010
By Ahmed Yusuf

Karachi

While official pressure reportedly resulted in the closing of markets by 9 pm in many areas of the city, two elite shopping malls in the jurisdiction of Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) and Defence Housing Authority (DHA), Park Towers and The Forum, remained open past the deadline on Monday, with no signs of shutting.

Customers were also seemingly unaware of the fact that government orders had been issued to close shops at 9pm, with many simply loitering around to window shop. “We can stay in here till they decide to kick us out. The government is their (The Forum’s) problem, not ours,” said Kamran Asghar, a visitor to the mall and father of two.

Some markets and shopping centres were closed on time due to police pressure, and “intervention,” as one shopkeeper in the Gulf Shopping Centre, at Do-Talwar, told The News. Shortly after 9pm, much of Gulf had already closed, with a scheduled power outage at the time adding to the traders’ overall disgruntled mood.

Multinational companies situated on main Zamzama Boulevard, however, were prompt in shutting down businesses at/around the official deadline. According to a salesperson in one of the multinational shops, an email had been floated by their headquarters to comply with the 9pm-deadline, or any other market decision imposed by the government.

Local traders on Zamzama, while heavily critical of the decision to shut down markets at 9pm, started shutting their shops after 9.12pm – when a police car started patrolling the road and sounded its siren.

Most traders argued that much of the volume of their businesses comes in after 7pm, and if a culture to shut down businesses by 9pm is not instituted, then the entire exercise would be deemed as redundant.