With just less than 48 hours to go for Onam festival, Broadway wears a deserted look. Most of the shops are empty.

Shopkeepers with a worried face wait for their customers eagerly to sell the wares associated with the festival.

Crisis in the Gulf seems to have hit the traders hard and shoppers have not indulged in too much spending for the festival.

Till a few years back, Broadway used to be choked with thousands of people thronging the shops even 10 days before the festival. “It is shocking and depressing to see things now,” said a trader.

The day of ‘Atham’ marks the beginning of the floral festival. From then on, the State would wake up to welcome Onam on the 10th day falling on ‘Thiruvonam’ star.

Flower sellers from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka normally do a brisk business during this time. With the opening of flower shops by shopping malls and increased online sale of flowers and decorative items, the flower vendors are also feeling the pinch.

The only orders they have received so far is from offices and educational institutions for their ‘Pookolams’.