Forum opened late on Thursday, waiting for the poll fever to die down. Pictures by Rashbehari Das

It was poll paralysis for Calcutta?s retail racks and cineplex seats, as most shop stops went on half-day mode on Thursday to allow the hustings heat to cool off.

Many of those who had planned to catch a noon-show movie or lunch out with the family on a ?hassle-free holiday? after casting their vote, came to grief. Forum on Elgin Road kept its shutters down till 4 pm, while Westside and Pantaloons at 22, Camac Street opened only at 3.

INOX Forum rolled its Christie?s Xenon projectors for its day?s first show of Pyare Mohan at 3 pm, even as 89 Cinemas opened its box office for Dosar at 4.30. With the alcohol ban in effect till 5 pm, the F&B trade took a hit as well, many like Mainland China opting to stay shut for lunch.

?We decided to keep the mall closed in the first half since footfalls are usually lean on poll day, as we found out during the municipal polls. Besides, it also gave us the opportunity to carry out some critical preventive maintenance work,? Forum general manager Ujjal tells Metro.

However, with 200-odd cars turning up at the Elgin Road-Lee Road address before 3 pm only to learn the mall was shut, the management might have a rethink on a half-day closure next time the city goes to polls. Vikas Syal, general manager, INOX Forum, puts the late start down to the ?convenience factor?, with two educational institutions in the vicinity serving as election booths, rendering the zone ?sensitive?.

City Centre was faster off the blocks, with a 1 pm start for the retail hub. ?The two-hour leeway allowed the retailers to cast their vote and also enabled us to execute an engineering maintenance job that was pending,? says Vineet Verma, CEO, Bengal Ambuja Metro, developers of the Salt Lake mall.

Food stops were split in their poll-day recipes. Bar-B-Q on Park Street laid out its tables for lunch and owner Baba Kothari reports a ?reasonable crowd?. Amber on Waterloo Street kept its first-floor dining hall open for the lunch-time clientele and ?business wasn?t bad?, according to proprietor S.K. Khullar. Flurys opened for breakfast and Oasis for brunch, but walk-ins were obviously leaner.

Although the liquor ban prompted many sip-and-bite stops to wait till evening before entertaining guests, some popular food stations skipped lunch hour as well. ?Poll day is when people are relaxed at home and don?t venture out too much during the day. We hardly had any bookings for lunch and decided to open only for dinner at 7 pm,? says Debasish Ghosh of Mainland China.

Despite the ?smooth and people-friendly? voting process ensured by the Election Commission, which came as a pleasant surprise to the urban electorate, the fear factor, traditionally linked to elections, lurked in retailers? minds.

Both Amit Dharap of Westside and Manish Agarwal of Pantaloons concede they had one eye on ?possible trouble? and deemed it wise to err on the side of caution by lifting the shutters late. Those who went shopping, remained buoyant, though. ?It?s a great idea to shop on a day like this. Empty trial rooms, spacious aisles, shopping has never been so relaxing,? says Paromita Sinha, an interior designer.