By A.MATTHEWS

ARTESIA, CA -  Businesses at the ‘Little India’ market on Pioneer Blvd here are reeling under the hard blow of a quickly collapsing economy. Form the high end garment boutiques, the jewelry and brand businesses to the mom & pop grocery operations, none have been spared. Though the extend may vary, they are pretty much all in a nose dive.

The merchants are keeping their fingers crossed, hoping that the change in government in the new year will give them a break. If not, many of them say they may be forced to wrap up and find alternate means of livelihood.

Even in good times, weekdays were kind of slow but come the weekends, there was a hustle and bustle with movement of customers to a point where parking would be a big problem and customers had to wait in lines to be seated at the popular eateries. Unfortunately, these days the weekends too are dead. People just don’t seem to be in a mood to shop and spend. Even the recent Diwali and Eid shopping was a damp squid as compared to previous years. On top of this, landlords are not cooperating and in fact some have even raised their rents making it harder for merchants to cough up the big amounts.

Mayor of Artesia Sally Flowers says the City Council has not been formally approached by the merchants or their representatives stating that their businesses are in trouble. She underscored the fact that the city is trying its best to improve facilities and is building a huge parking structure at the corner of Corby for the convenience of shoppers. It is spending $12 million to improve the ‘Indian corridor’ - improving aesthetics and trying to build a livable community and is encouraging events like the recent Diwali mela which attracted thousands to the area.
Councilman Victor Manalo feels that everyone is hurting these days. The government has to contend with budget shortfalls in the next couple of years. He assured that the City would do what they can for the merchants to support them by listening to their suggestions and promoting events that will bring more business to the area. He also highlighted the redevelopment improvement project between 183 and 187 streets.     

Transactions at the main local Indian bank in the market, the State Bank of India (Artesia) back up this bleak scenario. SBI Artesia Manager Venkatesh Hegde says there’s no doubt that retail business has been hit. Textiles, gems & jewelry and the furniture segment which is dovetailed to the building and construction industry, have been hit the most. Accounts receivables are getting delayed. Hedge figures that the economy needs a big kick start to get consumers spending and start the ball rolling again.

Though high-end jewelry stores waded it out during the festive seasons with good sales, the smaller stores felt the brunt. According to Raj Pranav, VP Sales & Brands Highglow Jewelers, they saved their business from going into negative by introducing high-end brands like Cartier, Piaget, Chopard and are growing their clientele in the $100 K plus category.

Abbas of Watch Palace saw a 25 to 40 percent fall in business in Diwali and  Eid sales as compared to pervious years. To save the business from going negative he says merchants need to invest back into the business what they made in the good times. Other solutions he offers are cutting down on expenses and developing a positive attitude among merchants to focus on the good of the market.

Kewal Masson of Sona Jewelers and Sona Sari Palace has been hard hit registering a 50 percent fall in business. Though they have introduced many promotions offering big discounts, customers are still hesitant to spend.

The garments and textiles segment has been impacted hard. Jay Singh of Jay Creations says business is at its lowest ebb with no movement of customers. Merchants are fighting to survive. “ What we need is immediate emergency first aid from the government to survive. We need loans for small businesses and some break in Sales Tax to go on,” he adds.

Binny Silk and Sari House Manager Harita Khandhadia says though their store focuses on daily wear at very reasonable prices, customers are hesitating to buy as they want to save money for essentials. As a counter measure, they have put up brand new products like the ‘Polka dot’ Hakoba saris on sale in the hope of attracting them.
Though Nita Asija of Frontier Heritage agrees there has been some slowing down she says sales on her exclusive bridal outfits are doing fine as weddings have to go on despite all odds but customers are not as liberal in buying the exclusive outfits as they used to..

Grocery stores, which to some extent are “recession proof” have not been spared from this down slide. Ambala Cash and Carry, one of the oldest and biggest in the market, saw good sales at Diwali but as Balvinder Singh Garcha says they are now feeling the impact with business slowing down.

“Customers are just sticking to the bare essentials like vegetables, atta, dal and  spending less on snacks, sweets, pickles etc,” he says.
In the same vein, Dhanji Hirani of Farm Fresh says though Diwali was as good as previous years, business is steadily slowing down by at least 30 percent. There is minimum walk-in traffic. Bringing another point to light, he says export of many items have been banned from India, as India cannot cope with its domestic demand. This is creating a shortage here.

Customers who made a bee line for the many restaurants that line the strip, are now thinking twice. At Diwali most eating joints did good business with catering orders and bulk buying of sweets. Now things are different. The popular Ashoka The Great, known for its lunch buffet, has seen some slowing down, even though as owner Darshan Singh says no other restaurant can beat their buffet price at $7.95.He figures that the business will get through this holiday season but the real crunch will start in January.        

Paramjeet Singh of Ambala Sweets and Snacks voices the same concern as fewer customers are coming in to enjoy what they have to offer.
Unlike the other two, though Mayank of Jay Bharat agrees that the slowdown has impacted everyone, he figures that Jay Bharat has not felt the full impact as big orders are still coming in and they are focusing on their service and quality.

Ashwin Patel of Surati Farsan too feels that their business has not seen any major change and the drop, if any is negligible.

Senjal Patel of Rasraj  says business is doing alright and is boosted by the heavy catering orders for weddings and other occasions which are booked well in advance.

For the present, travel agents seem to be pulling it off. Bharat Bhakta of Globimax Samson Tours & Travels says it is surprising that people are continuing to buy tickets for India though they are looking for bigger bargains. They are, however, cutting down on vacations.  Bhakta says he is being innovative and focusing on group bookings and honeymoon packages. The hotel industry has been badly hit too, he adds.

Beauty salons too are managing to survive though they complain that customers are being very frugal and not availing of all services as they used to. Parul of Karishma’s Beauty Salon says that business has fallen by around 20 percent. She is now counting more on her bridal makeovers and has introduced many special promotions to bring the customers in. Some of these are ‘Buy one get one free’ facial, 15 percent off waxing, free hair cut with hair coloring, coupons for $2 or $4 off on threading for return customers. 

Agreeing with her is Lucy of Lucy’s Beauty Salon,“ there has been a slow down but as yet we have not seen the full impact of it,” she adds.

That times are tough and will get even tougher as 2009 approaches, is the general feeling in the market. As most merchants agree, don’t lose sleep over it. The best strategy to employ is ‘wait and watch’ and cross the bridge when you come to it.