With water-throwing banned amid the latest coronavirus surge, pity the retailers who stocked up on water guns.
Thongrian Premvinai, owner of the Rung Charoen grocery in Naklua, complained that the government created a disaster for her business, prohibiting water wars just days before Songkran.
Thongrian said she had purchased almost a million baht in water guns, buckets, tanks and other toys in expectation of the usual ten days of wet warfare in Pattaya. But all the plastic artillery remains dry in her warehouse.
With police vigilantly patrolling for water-splashers, no one has been brave enough to break the prohibition, she said. The only money her shop has made this month is from people buying other souvenirs, toys and mugs.
This was not how things were expected to go. Last month, Thongrian said, small vendors from Pattaya to Bangsaen to Sattahip booked orders for water guns, but all ended up canceling, leaving her with a glut of costly inventory.
