Muscat: Sweet shop owners in Muscat hope they will see an increase in sales in the days leading up to Diwali, a festival celebrated by many expatriates in Oman.
After being unable to sell much of their product last year, owing to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions that were in effect to contain it, they are hoping the significant steps made towards returning to normalcy will fuel more sales in goodies this year.
“Last year was very bad for us – we only managed some walk-in sales, and even those were very little, as the restrictions meant people were not allowed to move freely, and all of the offices were closed, as people were not allowed in,” said Ali Asghar Vajihi, the director of Bombay Sweets.
“This year, however, people are once again gathering in small numbers, offices are open again, and so we have seen and expect more corporate and customer orders,” he added. “We are expecting to move between one and 1.5 tonnes worth of sweets, but even then, this will only amount to about 70 per cent of what we sold in 2019. If we get that much business, though, I think we will be satisfied for this year.”
Vajihi added that there were many factors – apart from the economic impact of COVID-19 – that dissuaded people from spending a lot of money this Diwali. Value added tax (VAT), he felt, might cut into people’s spending capabilities on taxable items, particularly given the current conditions.
“Earlier, we used to have subsidies on electricity and water that are no longer present, so that will definitely affect people’s willingness to spend on items they see as a luxury,” he added. “Sweets are also taxable, and although some consider the additional expense, there are others who will wonder why they have to spend five percent more this year.”
“Nevertheless, we remain optimistic that we will do decent sales this year, and fortunately, we have been fully staffed since April, so we do have people on standby to make more sweets if needed,” revealed Vajihi.
Meanwhile, over at Kesar Restaurant, co-owner Ashwin Sabnani and his team are getting boxes ready for corporate clients who have placed orders with him.
He too has seen an increase in sales numbers, and although they remain a far cry from the orders fulfilled in 2019, they are a lot higher than they were last year.
“Compared to 2020, we are doing about 60 per cent better, so there is great cause for optimism,” he said, “But it is still about 30 per cent lower than the inventory we moved during the year before last, and it is easy to see why there has been an impact on the retail market, and goods that some might consider non-essential.”
“For us, the corporate orders form the bulk of our sales, but these have fallen significantly, as companies are not willing to spend as much as they used to previously, which is a direct impact of the effect of COVID-19,” he said.
“But we are also seeing a lot of retail sales, and one of the reasons for this is that people are once again gathering in small numbers, as a reason for which we expect our customer sales to peak over the weekend,” added Sabnani.
