Home confinement forced by the Covid-19 means reaching out for a bottle for many.

Several liquor off shops in the city have reported a spurt in sales when almost every other business has taken a hit because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The state government ordered the closure of all pubs, bars, restaurants and night clubs on Saturday. These places had been recording a sharp drop in footfall even before the closure. That has also contributed to a jump in sales at off shops.

At a store in Ballygunge Phari, there were more than 15 people in queue around 6pm on Friday.

“There has been a 30 percent jump in sales for the past four or five days. There were apprehensions of a blanket shutdown, in the run-up to Narendra Modi’s address on Thursday. Along with essentials, there was a rush to stock up on alcohol,” said Ashim Saha, the owner of the Ballygunge store.

A man bought three bottles of an Indian wine from the store. A woman bought two bottles of a Cuban white rum.

“Regular patrons are buying more than their usual quota,” Saha said.

A 32-year-old employee of a multinational IT services company has been “working from home” for the past week. Three days ago, the Howrah resident bought two bottles of dark rum and a crate of lager beer.

“There is no place to go to after work. I am watching a movie every day with a drink or two,” he said.

The off shops in “office paras” such as Dalhousie, Jeevan Deep area and Sector V have, however, registered a drop in sales.

“Most of our customers work in offices in this area. Most of the offices are closed now. Where will the customers come from?” asked a man at an off shop on Ganesh Chandra Avenue.

But off shops in residential areas are not complaining. A middle-aged man bought two bottles of a blended Scotch whisky from a store on Lake Road on Friday afternoon.

“He is a regular patron who usually buys one bottle every week,” said Gautam Saha, an employee at the store. “He is not alone. Most of our regular customers are buying more than what they usually do.”

At another store in Kasba, there were at least 25 people waiting at the counter on Thursday evening.

One of them, a senior citizen, bought a bottle of Indian whisky and a bottle of country liquor. When the man at the counter looked surprised, the customer clarified: “This (country liquor) is not for drinking. There is an acute shortage of alcohol-based hand sanitiser in the market. I will use this with a handwash to make a sanitiser.”