The last 80 days have been a challenge for the shopaholic and retail enthusiast in me. I rushed to an apparel store the moment the state government permitted retail outlets to open doors to customers. I was excited at the prospect of stepping into a store full of clothes - something that I hadn't done in a while.

At the store, I was greeted with a temperature check and was given some mandatory hand sanitizer. They also asked me if I had installed the 'Aarogya Setu' app​. The process of entry was effortless and I breezed past.

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As I entered the store, I noticed that there were a number of sanitizer bottles in every corner. The staff was dressed like an army in masks and gloves. There were about six staff members at the store versus the fifteen odd staff strength that the store usually houses. There were also a few members of the cleaning staff who were standing on the sidelines with sanitizer sprays and disinfectants. Their task was to constantly clean everything that a customer touches - be it lift buttons, racks, doorknobs, etc. I was amazed at the kind of safety protocols that stores had started implementing. I started looking through the shelves and checking out clothes on the hangars.

The moment I was done looking at a particular rack, the cleaning brigade came and sanitized the racks. Clothes that I touched were steam ironed almost immediately. There was a strange sense of paranoia in the room.

In alignment with state regulations, trial rooms had been blocked and return and exchange had been prohibited. As a shopper, there were multiple questions that were racing in my mind - will this fit, will this suit me? The sales staff kept pushing me towards the merchandise that I was looking for and were trying to ensure that I avoid touching unnecessary items.

I also realized that most of the collection displayed at the store was the summer collection. Owing to the lockdown, several retailers have been left with summer inventory and this was expected to spillover to autumn as well. I was still unsure if I wanted to buy the two garments that I had picked up. Anyway, I proceeded towards the billing counter. The store had put up safety protocols for billing as well. They preferred credit and debit card payments instead of dealing in cash.

While I was happy to be in a store, there was a strange sense of discomfort that I felt. I dropped the idea of buying the garments and left the store.

​Shopping in this new normal was an uncomfortable experience for me. I miss trying on truckloads of apparels in the trial room before buying them, I miss being unmonitored at a store and I miss just casually window shopping more than anything else in this world. I'm happy to wait it out till things go back to normal (will they ever?).

First Published:Jun 9, 2020 1:02 PM IST