Twenty- five Seven

Shopping & More – The Great Eastern Store

April 25, 2012

Teak wood entrance

Yesterday I spent one of the most fascinating mornings shopping . Situated right in the middle of the city, behind the walls of the crumbling New Great Eastern Mills on Dr. Ambedkar Road is a fascinating store quite unlike any I’ve seen in Mumbai so far.

In fact we overshot the gate and had to go a few yards in reverse before we entered the compound. I was a bit sceptical and could sense Namuj’s wariness as we passed gnarled trees and ramshackle buildings. It felt more like a visit to the Temple of Doom rather than a high end store selling high end antiques and reproductions. However, we persisted and were relieved to find a semblance of civilisation as we knew it when we came upon the actual compound housing the store. We were directed to a bright yellow building with a wooden canopied entrance.

The gnarled roots of a tree:
the perfect backdrop for a stone statue

Moroccan lantern

When I first told Namju that we had to go to Byculla near the Zoo, she was quite astonished. So was I actually because I never imagined such a gem could be so close to a Zoo! And this shop is not just one shop but actually three shops under one sky and within one compound. 70,000 square feet of beautiful furniture to browse through in air conditioned comfort. And to top it all you have an attendant to answer your every question!

We entered unsure of what to expect and were simply amazed by the aesthetic assault. It was like entering Alladin’s Cave. Morano chandeliers and Moroccon lanterns, oil paintings and antique jewerly mounted on the wall, mirrors, rugs, furniture and antique glass ware, sharing a space that was easy to move around in.

French Piano

We had planned on spending just an hour but didn’t realise that we had spent more than 2 as we browsed around ! Amidst Chinese camphor chests, porcelain tea cups and china ware, we found an antique French piano in burled wood polished to mirror finish. There was a photo shoot going on and I took advantage of the superior lighting especially since my own camera was playing up and providing colours that didn’t exist – shadows and shades of pink and blue! While Namju was looking out for a show case, I was just looking around for fun and I was fascinated by the baby chairs sitting atop a sideboard and a complete bar ready find its place in someone’s house!

The bar

Baby chairs

waiting for the photo shoot

Lovingly restored, some of the pieces were actual antiques while several were reproductions made with a high level of craftsmanship. I loved wandering through the different spaces : this was quite unlike the visit to Chor Bazaar with its manic energy and heat and dust. Here, you could feel a sense of calm and peace with each building having a new kind of energy. I specially loved the last one which we entered through a blue tiled doorway. As we stepped inside and wandered through, I was fascinated by the

Swagged ceiling

white cotton swags hanging from the high ceiling in the last room which harked back to the halycon days of Great Eastern’s textile past.

For anyone interested in antiquing in clean surroundings, this is the place to go to.
The Convenient Local Convenience Store

April 23, 2012

The convenience of the Local Store

I was most upset when my local baniya decided to close shop. Looking at him, one would hardly imagine that he’d retire but he said he’d had enough. With erratic and unreliable staff, rising costs and reduced credit by the suppliers, keeping a store open was not feasible anymore. In fact, he said it was the online stores that actually spelled the doom of the local convenience store.

I was most upset.

Part of my retail therapy is to wander into the local grocer’s shop on my way back from various chores in the vicinity. This tiny little hole in the wall is simply amazing in both its service and stock levels. Unlike the huge grocery stores which source nationally and internationally, this mom & pop outfit is like millions of other shops in India that serve the local neighbourhood: simple, unassuming and completely down market.

But he is a savvy retailer. He knows exactly what is happening and is up to date with his information. It is amazing how these shops and shop keepers have a pulse on the market and retail trends. Most of these shops are operated by local traders who employ their friends and relatives back from the village, looking for a foothold in the big city.

With scant regard for aesthetics and complete focus on customer service, their shelves are stocked with basic food grains, packaged foodstuff, ice creams. They even keep exotic stuff like flax seeds, almond oil, Barilla pasta, seven grain bread and Wasabi nuts. School supplies, chalk, felt pens, toiletries, and household cleaning material, rub shoulders with home made snacks.

And all this available just a phone call away!

Why I like my local baniya

So why would I want to trudge all the way to a Big Bazaar, move my reluctant trolley or drag a basket through aisles that barely squeeze two bottoms, reach out to shelves way beyond my reach or bend down in darkened spaces, then wait in interminable lines to have my bill punched by a clerk who can hardly bar code half the items and worse still, have my bill checked at the exit to ensure I haven’t taken out any item I haven’t paid for???

And if I am shopping at a mall like High Street Phoenix, I have to rush back to my car to put in my stuff else suffer the inconvenience of leaving my shopping at the entrance of any other shop I may venture to enter.

♥ Our local Baniya stocks everything essential to run a home smoothly.

♥ He picks up re-cyclable newspapers and bottles.

♥ He opens his shutters at 7 every morning to shut them at 9 in the night.

♥ Sundays finds his shop open for half the day.

♥ Best of all, he provides a whole month’s credit. You get an itemised bill promptly at the end of the month.

♥ He comes when you call. He willingly comes even ten times a day.

♥ He takes back returns and is ever ready to serve with a smile.

Can any hypermarket or online store match this service? I doubt it.
A Mall for all Seasons – to shop for no reason

April 22, 2012

I used to think Shopping Therapy was meant for bimbos and was a complete waste of time. That was till last year when I had a blast shopping for Anna Shetty’s December wedding. I have a pet theory that girls who have a trousseau planned since the day they are born either get married very late or don’t get married at all. So I decided early in life never to make a Hope Chest but to accumulate a bank balance instead and when the happy couple decided on the wedding date, it was all the green signal I needed to begin shopping.

Thus I spent one of the happiest years of my life going from shop to shop armed with a list of what needed to be bought – fabric to make clothes, bags, shoes, lingerie and gifts. Of course there were moments fraught with high tension and major fights but it was nothing a trip to the shops couldn’t fix. And the best place to fix any kind of problem is High Street Phoenix quite simply the best shopping complex in Mumbai.

When it first opened literally like a phoenix from the ashes of a textile industry brought to its knees by the labour unions led by Datta Samant, it was the only one of its kind. With just a small portion of the mill converted into a shopping area ( Big Bazaar) of daily provisions and commonplace commercial goods, very few people could have imagined how it would turn out into a swanky shopping Centre today. Gradually, the Mall took shape with Pantaloons, McDonalds and then SkyZone with its high end stores brought in a new concept to shopping.Palladium, with its international feel changed the game altogether and things got even better and with PVR, cinema viewing became a treat. Finally, here was a place to see a movie for all of Rs. 100/- only ( from Monday-Thursday from 9.30-12.00) , grab a meal of your choice ( from Kailash Parbat to Moshe), shop till you drop and go home happy and content.

High Street Phoenix is the best place to go to if you are feeling blue. The soft music, (today I was taken back in time with strains of “Danny Boy” playing in the airconditioned comfort of Palladium), the well dressed shoppers, the pleasant aesthetics brightens up your spirits. One by one the shutters opened revealing shoes, clothes, perfumes, cosmetics and a life style that everyone aspires to . I wandered into L’Occitane and picked up a deliciously sinful Almond Body cream tempted by the 10% discount offered to all Flying Blue members, smelt a few other creams, tried on a foot cream and wandered into the other Mecca of Beauty – Lancome.

However silly and vacuous it may sound, there is nothing more energising than a visit to a cosmetic shop. For a while you can actually dream you are Julia Roberts staring out from the poster and indulge in polite banter with the sales staff.

A quick browse through the book shop, breezing through the clothes at Fab India, munching a quick chocolate cupcake from Le 15 and finally choosing a TV at Croma ( the main reason for my visit!) I came out of the shopping complex as pleased as a Cheshire Cat.

Thank God for Phoenix – The mood elevator for all time.

p.s. the photo is taken from the official website of HSP.