If the heavy rush witnessed at Bevco outlets on Thursday is any indication, then the staff manning the shops better strap up for some tough times ahead.

Long queues were the order of the day as there was no let-up in the flow of consumers at any point of time. Employees of outlets who came to open the shops in the morning were welcomed by queues that had already grown long.

That it was the sole working day sandwiched between two holidays for liquor outlets – Wednesday being the mandatory dry day and Good Friday being holiday – did not help matters either. With all bars, except five-star ones, remaining closed and Consumerfed outlets not functioning on account of stock taking, the Bevco employees were left to deal with the heavy rush.

An outlet at Vazhakkulam, which normally registers sales worth Rs. 5.50 lakh to Rs. 6 lakh a day, had logged close to Rs. 10 lakh on Thursday with three hours still left for the closure. “We are looking at sales in the region of Rs. 15 lakh. It is likely to hover in that vicinity with the closure of all three bars in the area,” said Denny George, an employee at the outlet. He said the crowd witnessed outside the outlet was unprecedented. It was almost impossible to manage at times with bottles flying off the racks, leading to an alarming decline in stock at a rapid pace, Mr. George said. “The workers were exhausted after having to stay back at shops late into the previous night to revise the price list of the stock based on the hike declared in the budget. Then we had to come back and deal with today’s rush, which gave us hardly any time to have food, forget taking rest,” he said.