Today in the evening we reached T Nagar passing through the busy Usman road. We entered Saravana stores and the store was as crowded as the street outside. Each floor had just enough place left for people to walk and get past. Being my first experience at these stores I was surprised to see such a wide variety of goods, be it furniture, general house hold items, interiors, beds, you name it and you will get it here.
After sometime I started telling my friend about Kishore Biyani's book "It Happened in India" were he mentioned about the shopping environment in India. In his book he mentions about Saravana stores and concludes that in India people prefer shopping not in peace but in full rush, rubbing shoulders and waiting at the billing counters. It was at this time when it became very clear to me about what Kishore Biyani meant.
During our shopping here we bought 3 tables from one place, 3 chairs from other and then went back within 5 minutes to buy 1 of each from the same places. Meanwhile the earlier 3 had disappeared probably for delivery which was supposed to happen the next day. After this we also went on to buy some expendable FMCG products :-) bought a few things from 3 different places... no computer, no bar codes... just hand written notes from everywhere... and then went to the counter to make the payment, wondering where would the deliveries be made... miraculously all the things appeared at the delivery counter in one carry bag... that too in just 5 minutes... checked the packet because we were a bit skeptical about the process... you see lack of technology made us think twice... I was stunned to see their delivery method, even in today's technology age this store uses hand receipts!
After sometime I started telling my friend about Kishore Biyani's book "It Happened in India" were he mentioned about the shopping environment in India. In his book he mentions about Saravana stores and concludes that in India people prefer shopping not in peace but in full rush, rubbing shoulders and waiting at the billing counters. It was at this time when it became very clear to me about what Kishore Biyani meant.
During our shopping here we bought 3 tables from one place, 3 chairs from other and then went back within 5 minutes to buy 1 of each from the same places. Meanwhile the earlier 3 had disappeared probably for delivery which was supposed to happen the next day. After this we also went on to buy some expendable FMCG products :-) bought a few things from 3 different places... no computer, no bar codes... just hand written notes from everywhere... and then went to the counter to make the payment, wondering where would the deliveries be made... miraculously all the things appeared at the delivery counter in one carry bag... that too in just 5 minutes... checked the packet because we were a bit skeptical about the process... you see lack of technology made us think twice... I was stunned to see their delivery method, even in today's technology age this store uses hand receipts!
Initially it looked like all the shops on Usman road are as busy as the streets or the Saravana store but again to my surprise the shop next to it, as big as this one with as many varieties as this one, had not even a single customer until we got in. Such is the brand Saravana in Chennai.!
We incidentally entered in one of the Saravana dinning halls and in the menu card read about their presence in UK, US, UAE etc. Post dinner as soon as we reached home I googled on Saravana and was baffled to see the list of things they are involved in.
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