Mumbai: It is early days yet, but so far the response to the 24/7 initiative has been underwhelming. Mumbai’s three big malls, High Street Phoenix in Lower Parel, Atria in Worli and Oberoi in Goregaon East were practically deserted on day 1, as all shops and restaurants downed shutters by 1am.
However, not all mall owners participated in the open initiative due to concerns over manpower, additional costs, and doubts about late-night footfalls. “During trial run over the weekend on January 24th and 25th night the response was not ‘overwhelming’ and so we may not continue to keep it open round the clock on weekdays. But as it was the first day will wait further to see if we get any response in coming days,” said Neeraj, who works at Delhi Heights restuarant at Phoenix.
On the other hand the malls administration are still in talks with the shops and restaurant owners to know whether they should be open for seven days a week or only on weekends. “We have been informed to open it on weekends but it is yet to be finalised. We have do not have problem if we work 24/7 for seven days but we need customers for that as there are many factors which can affect the business which includes rent, light bill and many other things,” said one of the employee working at Atria Mall. When FPJ did a ground reporting at these malls they found only those who were coming out of the late night movie shows and some of them from the gaming zone. Most of them said the restaurants should be open till morning as late night its hard to find food.
Shops and restaurants inside Oberoi Mall, Goregaon East were shut by 1 am after the usual closing time of the mall. Moviegoers who go for late night shows claimed the restaurants are still not prepared for the Mumbai 24x7 law. Saurabh Mayekar, a resident of Goregaon who was in search of food after the last show, said, "The regular fast food joints and restaurants were shut by 1am. Shops and establishments inside the mall were not open all night."
Staff of restaurants revealed they have their delivery of raw materials in the night so they will have to change the whole cycle. Vedant Mane, a staff of the Subway joint said, "We have our meat delivery in the night. We already have extra staff working on the loading and unloading process. Now, we will have to start an extra shift if we want to serve food throughout the night." Alam Hasan, a security guard, said, "The mall generally shuts by 1am as we start vacating shoppers from 12am. We followed the same drill last night but maybe things will change in the next few days."
