The Power of Retail

I’ve recently found a great source for all kinds of furniture and since we’ve been moving and still setting up our house, it really has come in handy. If you are interested in some teak furniture, then you will be happy with the results here, since the quality is quite good as well as the range of items. I like to have few pieces in my home, but they should be good pieces, items that do not look dated or typecast as ethnic or any such thing. I like to have a modern home but mix things up with some older pieces and some completely modern ones, to make things interesting and different.

Each time I visit India, I am struck by the change that is taking place in the retail sector. Unfortunately, I am not all that thrilled at the way some retailers are going about doing business and that is most apparent in the food retail sector, a part of the retail industry that is the fastest growing and most competitive ones. Take Reliance Fresh for instance, their stores are usually empty, have only stale and old vegetables and fruit on offer (although they do have some fresher ones at the back, which they resist displaying until the old ones are close to rotting), several stores also never bother with the air conditioning, which is a really fast way of driving away customers.

What I have described is not a recent thing, since I myself have witnessed this at a Reliance Fresh store nearby, which opened in August or September and was worth visiting only till November or so. Since then, it’s a waste going there and best to head to the local mandi instead, who will have better veggies, fresher ones and offer better service too. The prices might be slightly higher, but we’re talking of a difference of only Rs 2-3, which is as good as nothing. A lot of organized retail stores only use the marginally lower price as a marketing gimmick to attract customers, but are not able to offer anything else of value to keep them coming back.

Now that our vacation is almost over, I’ve got to start thinking of the mundane things of life such as getting some new sinks installed, along with a couple of shelving units and so on. During one’s vacation, when can put everything away mentally and avoid thinking of anything regarding work or boring daily living stuff, but now it’s time to think of all the things I need to buy before I head back, so I don’t curse myself later on. That’s what always seems to happen and each time I plan to have a list handy, and of course, each time it never is ready and there is a last minute panic of things to bring and things to take, and that’s what I’m hoping to avoid this time.

I can’t remember the last time I read so many books in such a short time. These past few weeks, I have read 6 books and started on the seventh one, which I then left since I was coming away! Since I started working from home and spending just so much time working on the computer, I have barely been reading, so it was a really lovely nice change to be able to read so much. Since there was nothing else to really do, I completely immersed myself in the books and sped through them with great gusto!

Enjoy!

Now that we’re back from our trip to the hills, I am even more sure than before that one really must have a home in the hills, or at least have a long term rental that one goes to every year for the sake of continuity. I love traveling to new places, but being able to go to the same place also feels really nice and cosy of sorts. It would be great to have one of these Branson condos where one could spend some time each year, so it feels like a home away from home. There really is something so charming about the hills, and Branson is a great place to head to thanks to its wonderful nightlife of country music theatres with live performances, great restaraunts and beautiful scenery no matter where you look.

Here’s another picture. This one was taken last month at Festival City. I quite like the place, even though the stores are not all that interesting, mostly repeated from other malls, and not all the stores are open as yet. The restaurants are good here and there are lots of cafes and hang out spots as well. Our old favorite Au Bon Pain will soon be opening there…or might have already opened in our absence.

Enjoy!

On my trip back home this time, I have noticed lots of changes, even though I was here only 5 months back. Things seemed to have loosened up a bit and now one can see drug treatment centers where earlier these were not always advertised. As things change in the city, and its residents become more “modernized”, problems and issues faced by residents of larger cities will become quite common here. The trend has already started and it’s only a question of time, till it goes mainstream. I only hope that the locals are willing to adapt to new things and ways that society changes so the transition is smooth.

A nice picture to end my blogging adventures for the day! This was taken last week on a short trip to the hills. As usual, there was lots to photograph there, but since it hasn’t rained for quite some time, there was a lot of haze and one could not get to see any of the peaks in the distance. We’ll have to keep that for another time, but for now, here’s a differnt kind of pic.

Enjoy!

When it comes to anything technical, there is only one person I need to ask anything and everything. While I am knowledgeable about the basics of tech stuff like computers such as CAT6 and so on, when it gets to complicated territory, I give a call to my trusted tech advisor, who is sure to know the best solution for me. Most companies also follow the same principle and leave all their technical issues to a professional, since there can a lot of damage done if one blunders in without knowing all the details.

Every few months, the retail scene is changing in India. This is especially true for smaller and faster growing towns, where the concept of modern or organized retail stores has been catching on very quickly. The middle class or the average consumer is who these stores are targeting and by offering slightly lower prices and much more convenient locations and services, these stores are becoming part and parcel of modern cities, especially with working women.

Buying one’s daily or weekly supply of food and grocery used to be quite an inconvenience earlier, but with the advent of stores such as Subhiksha, 6 to 10, Reliance Fresh and so on, things have really improved. They are not perfect of course, but are a vast improvement on what it used to be earlier. As consumers become more aware and more accustomed to these stores, their services will also improve and become more in tune to what consumers want.