TIRUCHY: The rains lashing the city have turned out to be a dampener on Deepavali sales, with traders, who had hoped for their debt burden to ease, claiming it to have instead reduced their business.
"People looking for affordable clothes and electronic materials would visit the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose (NSB) Road. Therefore, several people are visiting our area. But we are not getting good business like the previous years. This year, the rains reduced our business. Many of us now hope for better sales during Pongal," said Mohammed Ali, a cloth vendor. Traders in Teppakulam, Singarathoppu and nearby areas also shared the opinion.
The situation was no different for carpenters by the roadside in Marakkadai with rain compounding their woes by leaving their furniture wet.
"Usually, several residents from the central districts like Thanjavur, Ariyalur, Pudukkottai, etc. would visit Marakkadai for buying wooden furniture. But this time we didn't get any business as most of the furniture got wet in the rains. We hope for some business only after the rainy season," said Velumani, a carpenter.
On the flip side, the rain spells helped a few vendors at major roads and bridges to sell raincoats. "We are getting good business as many people are buying raincoats due to the rains. We are selling raincoats from `150 to `1000. We have coats at affordable rates, too. As the weather is very unpredictable, we cannot say whether we would be able to clear the stock, but at present, we are getting good business," said Abdul Latif, a vendor near Cantonment area.