On the very first day of my visit here, about a few hours after I landed, I was off doing my first bit toward my brother's wedding - a huge grocery shopping trip. The grocery list was so big that we hired a car to take us to the store, the only store big enough to satisfy our needs - a Walmart-type store called Spencer's (I don't know if this is related to the Spencer's Plaza in Begumpet/Ameerpet, probably is). This used to be "Giant" but now it's owned by Spencer's. And it's not just a "Supermarket" anymore, no sir, those things were tiny. This is (bated breath) a HYPERMART! While it's only the size of a regular Walmart, for India that's huge. And being located near the busy RTC 'X' Roads, that's a very impressive store.
I won't bore you with all the details of our shopping, but suffice to say that we spent about Rs 15,000 (about $300) which keeping in mind that a rupee goes a lot further, is a lot of volume of groceries like dals, vegetables, plates, cups, pickles etc. We picked up a shopping cart, and then another and then two more. Each of them filled to the brim. I had quite a workout picking up 10 Kgs (22lbs) packets of flour and sugar and loading up the cart with them.
The trickiest part was moving the carts. You see, they had all wheel drives! In the US, only the front wheels are completely free, the rear wheels are locked. Atleast in the ones I've encountered. (Read the last few lines of the third paragraph.) So basically, while you can do something really cool like just slide the cart sideways, while guiding a 170 lbs cart down a slope, you can't really steer very well and you have to be very careful. Imagine pushing around those damn things (four of them) down to the register and then to the car, and then loading and then later unloading them. Should explain why I got sick right away right?
Well it's either that or the food I ate the first day - bonda (with chutney), sandwich and a mango drink, water from a tender coconut, and some of that tender coconut, S.Indian thali with Sprite, a Fanta for the ride back home, Veg. Fried Rice, Fried Vegetable curry, Panneer Butter Masala, Veg. stuffed paratha and a coconut burfi to finish it all. Nah, I'm not going to die of food poisoning am I?
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2 comments:
Kalyan,
It's interesting that you should mention the positioning of the Hypermart at such a busy intersection. I've read that one nuisance Wal-Mart and other "big-box" stores are confronting as they attempt to enter the Indian market is that municipal growth is so overwhelming and unpredictable that once the retailer has decided upon a good area for opening a store, the city's "center of gravity" shifts in just a few months, and suddenly the original location isn't as relatively profitable as a new one has become. It's almost like that kid's game -- whack-a-mole. Wal-Mart spots a mole pop out of the hole, but just as they pull out their mallet to whack the critter, the mole retreats and pops up in completely different area! Who can keep up?
One wonders if Hypermart will want to change locations in just a few years...
Hmm, that's an interesting point. I can see this happening. But for some reason, not in this location. Meaning, the RTC 'X' roads is such a "node" in the city that just don't see that area dying out from lack of traffic. Of course, it's no longer "chic" and that's definitely a factor in choosing a location for a mall or a big plaza, but for a basic store like these Hypermarts, I think this location will be profitable for a long time. Let's see. (It'll be really tragic if they close down their location before the end of my trip!!)
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