When was the last time you visited one of the grocery stores in Indian states? Probably you are returning from your favorite one now. The neighborhood grocery store (s) is as ubiquitous as our presence. The first things that the grocery stores in Indian states give to the customer is ease and convenience of buying (the word shopping has to seep in a long way), the closeness to the home, first name family relationships based on mutual respect, evaluation of different buying options, buying advice, informal word of mouth warranties and guarantees, children welcome for buying, gifts and freebies for your children, home delivery, and value added services (such as wheat produce cleaning). In case there is something not available he can arrange for it as soon as possible or on request, as soon as you want.
There was a time when grocery stores in Indian states were spacious, neatly organized affairs like a need based miniature hypermarket grocery department. This was as recent as two decades ago in Indian cities such as Connaught Place in New Delhi, Colaba in Mumbai, Kirkee Cantonment in Pune and Bada Bazaar in Kolkata. As the world became a smaller place to live in and a bigger place to shop in, these grocery stores became crowded with more and more packaged products and unbranded as well as branded packaged products. The friendly neighborhood grocery store started working overtime with longer working hours to provide you with the choice that your children, wife and yourself started demanding. May be you will recall the older folks’ grouchy remarks about the world coming to an end.
Readers have to bear in mind that grocery stores in Indian states are heavy on the food side. This in the good ole days meant whole grains of wheat,rice,cereals, lentils and the like...these were processed at home using water, fire, salt and spices to make food ready for eating. In 1984, instant noodles were marketed in India for the first time. So you can get an idea. Now in US, in grocer parlance, dry food also includes canned goods. This parlance is today not even used in the most up market, western oriented food hyper markets in India. India is not a contradiction in retail.
Today, modern retail in India is more like a rope with two colored strands being made, one color denotes the traditional ways and the other strand denotes western influenced changes. What one sees in grocery stores in Indian states today is an Indian rope trick. Picture this : Every hypermarket in India today has a grocery department which resembles the grocery stores in the best up market neighborhoods of Indian cities twenty years back. So who is imitating whom? Have things really changed? Maybe it is just that people with a mixed or Western mindset want a Western style shopping experience. The grocers at the grocery stores in Indian states are closely watching this experience.
|
