This post is triggered by a comment made by my friend on our recent visit to Aminbad Market, he wondered "Can Big Bazaar replace this market ever?". Now for the benefit of people who are not from Lucknow , Aminbad market is that typical market which is present in most of the small and bigger cities in the country(though size might vary), whether it is the Shivaji Nagar Market in Bangalore, or the market surrounding the Kalupur market in Ahmedabad. These are the typical markets which are full of vendors who are there to sell anything from a comb to watches to crockery......
And these vendors are mostly the small vendors on the roadside, with all the material which they sell on the a rented gadi or thela and some make use of a small loudspeaker to attract customers. And these markets have a reputation to be the one where you could get the best price if one knew how to bargain.
My friend made the comment a couple of days back , and we just casually discussed it, but then when i again went back to the market i decided to take some time off and spent a couple of hours in the market pondering over the question. Though I am firmly in the favor of the entry of organized retail in the country, the first thought which came to me was the one which has many people worried (though i doubt the genuineness of most of them) was the employment such markets are able to generate. Second thought was what it would mean culturally to loose out such a vibrant and lively market with a life less organized retail store which in a way is unique and ingrained in the way we are and we shop....
But at the end of two hours followed by a visit to few of the organized retailers in the city I was convinced that it would be very difficult if not impossible for organized retail to dislodge the unorganized small retailer from the retail scene in the country , because more than the issues of economies of scale and efficiency, for us bazaar buying is a part of our culture and though we might like to go to the shopping malls once in a while we would continue to patronize markets like Aminabad for a long time to come, and by "we" I mean the majority of Indians...
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
This post is triggered by a comment made by my friend on our recent visit to Aminbad Market, he wondered "Can Big Bazaar replace this market ever?". Now for the benefit of people who are not from Lucknow , Aminbad market is that typical market which is present in most of the small and bigger cities in the country(though size might vary), whether it is the Shivaji Nagar Market in Bangalore, or the market surrounding the Kalupur market in Ahmedabad. These are the typical markets which are full of vendors who are there to sell anything from a comb to watches to crockery......
And these vendors are mostly the small vendors on the roadside, with all the material which they sell on the a rented gadi or thela and some make use of a small loudspeaker to attract customers. And these markets have a reputation to be the one where you could get the best price if one knew how to bargain.
My friend made the comment a couple of days back , and we just casually discussed it, but then when i again went back to the market i decided to take some time off and spent a couple of hours in the market pondering over the question. Though I am firmly in the favor of the entry of organized retail in the country, the first thought which came to me was the one which has many people worried (though i doubt the genuineness of most of them) was the employment such markets are able to generate. Second thought was what it would mean culturally to loose out such a vibrant and lively market with a life less organized retail store which in a way is unique and ingrained in the way we are and we shop....
But at the end of two hours followed by a visit to few of the organized retailers in the city I was convinced that it would be very difficult if not impossible for organized retail to dislodge the unorganized small retailer from the retail scene in the country , because more than the issues of economies of scale and efficiency, for us bazaar buying is a part of our culture and though we might like to go to the shopping malls once in a while we would continue to patronize markets like Aminabad for a long time to come, and by "we" I mean the majority of Indians...
This post is triggered by a comment made by my friend on our recent visit to Aminbad Market, he wondered "Can Big Bazaar replace this market ever?". Now for the benefit of people who are not from Lucknow , Aminbad market is that typical market which is present in most of the small and bigger cities in the country(though size might vary), whether it is the Shivaji Nagar Market in Bangalore, or the market surrounding the Kalupur market in Ahmedabad. These are the typical markets which are full of vendors who are there to sell anything from a comb to watches to crockery......
And these vendors are mostly the small vendors on the roadside, with all the material which they sell on the a rented gadi or thela and some make use of a small loudspeaker to attract customers. And these markets have a reputation to be the one where you could get the best price if one knew how to bargain.
My friend made the comment a couple of days back , and we just casually discussed it, but then when i again went back to the market i decided to take some time off and spent a couple of hours in the market pondering over the question. Though I am firmly in the favor of the entry of organized retail in the country, the first thought which came to me was the one which has many people worried (though i doubt the genuineness of most of them) was the employment such markets are able to generate. Second thought was what it would mean culturally to loose out such a vibrant and lively market with a life less organized retail store which in a way is unique and ingrained in the way we are and we shop....
But at the end of two hours followed by a visit to few of the organized retailers in the city I was convinced that it would be very difficult if not impossible for organized retail to dislodge the unorganized small retailer from the retail scene in the country , because more than the issues of economies of scale and efficiency, for us bazaar buying is a part of our culture and though we might like to go to the shopping malls once in a while we would continue to patronize markets like Aminabad for a long time to come, and by "we" I mean the majority of Indians...
This post is triggered by a comment made by my friend on our recent visit to Aminbad Market, he wondered "Can Big Bazaar replace this market ever?". Now for the benefit of people who are not from Lucknow , Aminbad market is that typical market which is present in most of the small and bigger cities in the country(though size might vary), whether it is the Shivaji Nagar Market in Bangalore, or the market surrounding the Kalupur market in Ahmedabad. These are the typical markets which are full of vendors who are there to sell anything from a comb to watches to crockery......
And these vendors are mostly the small vendors on the roadside, with all the material which they sell on the a rented gadi or thela and some make use of a small loudspeaker to attract customers. And these markets have a reputation to be the one where you could get the best price if one knew how to bargain.
My friend made the comment a couple of days back , and we just casually discussed it, but then when i again went back to the market i decided to take some time off and spent a couple of hours in the market pondering over the question. Though I am firmly in the favor of the entry of organized retail in the country, the first thought which came to me was the one which has many people worried (though i doubt the genuineness of most of them) was the employment such markets are able to generate. Second thought was what it would mean culturally to loose out such a vibrant and lively market with a life less organized retail store which in a way is unique and ingrained in the way we are and we shop....
But at the end of two hours followed by a visit to few of the organized retailers in the city I was convinced that it would be very difficult if not impossible for organized retail to dislodge the unorganized small retailer from the retail scene in the country , because more than the issues of economies of scale and efficiency, for us bazaar buying is a part of our culture and though we might like to go to the shopping malls once in a while we would continue to patronize markets like Aminabad for a long time to come, and by "we" I mean the majority of Indians...
This post is triggered by a comment made by my friend on our recent visit to Aminbad Market, he wondered "Can Big Bazaar replace this market ever?". Now for the benefit of people who are not from Lucknow , Aminbad market is that typical market which is present in most of the small and bigger cities in the country(though size might vary), whether it is the Shivaji Nagar Market in Bangalore, or the market surrounding the Kalupur market in Ahmedabad. These are the typical markets which are full of vendors who are there to sell anything from a comb to watches to crockery......
And these vendors are mostly the small vendors on the roadside, with all the material which they sell on the a rented gadi or thela and some make use of a small loudspeaker to attract customers. And these markets have a reputation to be the one where you could get the best price if one knew how to bargain.
My friend made the comment a couple of days back , and we just casually discussed it, but then when i again went back to the market i decided to take some time off and spent a couple of hours in the market pondering over the question. Though I am firmly in the favor of the entry of organized retail in the country, the first thought which came to me was the one which has many people worried (though i doubt the genuineness of most of them) was the employment such markets are able to generate. Second thought was what it would mean culturally to loose out such a vibrant and lively market with a life less organized retail store which in a way is unique and ingrained in the way we are and we shop....
But at the end of two hours followed by a visit to few of the organized retailers in the city I was convinced that it would be very difficult if not impossible for organized retail to dislodge the unorganized small retailer from the retail scene in the country , because more than the issues of economies of scale and efficiency, for us bazaar buying is a part of our culture and though we might like to go to the shopping malls once in a while we would continue to patronize markets like Aminabad for a long time to come, and by "we" I mean the majority of Indians...
Post a Comment