Pondy Bazaar area in T Nagar looked wide and spacious after the hawkers who were occupying the pavements for several decades, moved to the Corporation Complex on Wednesday in compliance with the order of eviction.

All the street vendors have moved their wares into the new complex, but the shops are not yet ready for operation. Construction of the interiors is still going on and shop owners expect to have their stores fully functional in a week’s time.

“All the hawkers were cooperative and did not create a fuss to move to the new place,” said Vijayaragavan, an SI at the Pondy Bazaar Police Station.

“We are happy to move into this new space but we can only assess the benefit based on the response we receive in the next few months,” said Bukran Muhammed, whose father is one of the first persons to have set up shop on the pavement on Theyagaraya Road. Some vendors are skeptic that customers would not take the trouble of coming into the complex since most of the shopkeepers thrive on impulse buyers.

While many shopkeepers were busy getting their shops ready in the first and second floors of the complex, florists and fruit stall owners who were allocated space on the ground floor expressed discomfort.

“I have six persons working with me, but only two can stand inside the narrow four-square feet of space that was allocated,” complained Murugan, who runs a flower shop. He added that there was no proper system for garbage disposal.

Meanwhile, owners of stores on the Theyagaraya Road are happy that their establishments would gain visibility now that the pavement is cleared and would be easy to bring in stocks from suppliers.

“The hawkers were good people but their shop was a hindrance,” said a cloth merchant.

While aged people and residents at Theyagaraya Nagar are delighted about the spacious pathway, young shoppers feel that Pondy Bazaar would not be the same without hawkers.