Indian sweet shops sell two very different kinds of product. Milk-based sweets such as rasgulla, rasmalai, kalakand, sandesh and barfi are perishable and benefit from refrigeration, while dry sweets, namkeen and many ghee-based sweets are usually kept at ambient temperature. A mithai counter often combines both in one long serve-over run, with large trays displayed behind glass.
The chilled section must handle a demanding setting: shops are often open to the street, ambient temperatures rise sharply before Diwali and through summer, and trays are opened all day to serve customers. Good counters use enough refrigeration capacity, insulated glass, and an even airflow so trays at the front stay as cold as those at the back. Syrup-soaked sweets also need trays and surfaces that are easy to clean.
A halwai in Varanasi might keep chhena sweets and malai items in a chilled section, kaju katli and laddoos in an ambient section, and namkeen in a separate dry display. Before festivals, stock turns over far faster and the counter's recovery after restocking matters.