There are changes happening in the Retail Sector which I dont know how many people have noticed.
Big Bazar in Sahara Mall, Gurgaon has become very crowded. That is the single largest departmental store but it just gets too crowded to shop comfortably. NEVER take the trolley for your shopping as it gets impossible to manouver it within the store looking for stuff. You are much better off holding the shopping basket in your hand and carrying that along. If there are two of you, then its even better because you can carry a basket each.
Even if you struggle and get hold of what you came to buy and approach the Billing Counter, you could very well be stranded waiting for your turn for more than 30 minutes. It was definitely better to shop in the traditional markets of Old Cities where you did not have that 'Aura' of being in a comfy Air Conditioned place. You had decided to sweat it out in the busy, noisy and chaotic market, and you were ready for it. You searched, haggled, shopped and came back satiated.
Coming back to the change I had started this post with. Once while at Big Bazaar, wifey and I got so pissed off seeing the long queue at the billing counter that we just left whatever we had picked and filled our trolley and walked out. We came to a departmental store near our house and picked up exactly the same things at just about the same price and in a duration which was one-fourth of what it would take to do in Big Bazaar. Yesterday I went to do the monthly ration shopping in Sector 31 market where a total of 3 departmental stores have opened and was able to feel the relaxed shopping experience which Big Bazaar gave 3 years back. I think that the concept of one super large store would need to be interspersed with multiple localised smaller stores for success. Super large stores will have their crowds, their one central location. But people are always going to need places right below their apartments where they can walk down when they need something urgently or even pick things up while returning from work.
Big Bazaar, Reliance and Walmart are going to setup and thrive but what they will not be able to do id put the local mom'n'pop stores out of business. The mom'n'pop stores will need to modernize, go in for electronic payment machines, setup airconditioning in their store, learn about consumer tastes and choices and they will continue to thrive.
