Shopping Delhi

When Delhi was smaller, people would go to the adjoining cities (now called the National Capital Region) as an agenda. This would mean an outing for one full day. Those who could afford it, would hire a taxi for a day - since most of the times the weather is acting funny, this side of the temperature or the other - have one meal at the dhabas on the outskirts and visit one such ‘factory outlet’. What gave these shops more authenticity was that we believed that the factory would be located somewhere nearby and that’s how the same stuff is available so much cheaper. And then you saw them on all highways leading to Delhi, and wondered how come there were so many factories. And one day, the myth shattered!

You realised that there is a factory outlet within 5 km reach of your home/workplace, and another within the next 5km. And then you saw that the discounts were never more than 15-20-25%, on wollens in summers and on shorts in winters. Floaters are never on discount and the shoes that are thrown at you, you anyway do not want.

Why, they even went ahead and opened a Factory Outlet Mall for you. It is called Ansal’s Plaza in Vaishali, next to Ansal’s Neel Padam Kunj and bang opposite Dabur’s multistoried office. All shops out there claim to stock goods at fctory prices. In retail chains, there is Allen Cooper, Allen Solly, Megamart (Arvind group for Louis Phillipe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Peter England and Lee Cooper), Bata, Bizarre, Cantabil, Catmoss, Cottons by century, Gini n Johny (kidswear), Hidesign, High Life (shirts), Liberty SHoes, Mega Store (another chain), Provogue, Reebok, Samsonite, SF Jeans, Snowhite, Tuscan Verve, Van Heusen, VIP. There is also a big Vishal Mega Mart and Discount Store - that houses electronics and furniture. Incidentally, they do have good Zuari furniture at some amazing rates!

Shopping never seemed easier than this. Although the discount percentages do not have much to offer - probably during a season-change sale, you may get better options.

There is more for this article. (TBC…)

amongst many, many, MANY others!

I am writing about this new shopping arcade (though the owners call it a mall, it is nothing beyond an arcade) called ‘Gaur Gravity’ in Indirapuram.

Now, most of my updates may look a little skewed towards East Delhi/Noida but of late my shopping has been limited to these areas. So I acknowledge that and intend to change it as well.

Coming back! Indirapuram is the newest offering by Delhi’s very own ‘Ghajiabad’, or GaBad (as DTC buses display on the boards of ALT buses). There are Cities and Mega Cities and Gardens and Mansions and Orchids and Counties and Towers and Avenues and Residencies….phew!…all in one Puram in Ghaziabad. And each one of these colonies have a shopping area within the vicinity.

Gaur Green City has just opened a new shopping area called Gaur Gravity which is built on 3 floors and happens to be at a very strategic location. The shops are yet to begin and currently one can see LG Shoppe, Sun Sweets (a sweet shop that opened only today - and gave us a reason to indulge again since everything was so fresh - first day), Reliance Fresh (opening soon, though one wonders what they’re waiting for!), Archies Gallery (coming soon again), AKS Interia (for designing the homes that are in abundance in this area), a gift shop and a very nice kiddies clothes shop called ‘Sparkles’.

Sparkles is a small shop owned by a lady who stocks ‘International Brands at Indian Prices’. It came at just the right time as I was hunting for a birthday gift for a 2 yr old girl with my neighbour at Shipra Mall - that’s a stone throw away… and we went shrieking all the way - seeing the prices! Not that we were so illiterate about kids-wear being this expensive, but somehow we were completely drained after that trip. So we did buy something nice from Shoppers’ Stop at Shipra Mall but that was spending too much time. So the prices at Sparkles were compelling enough to buy once again.

In a way it is just a little sophisticated, well stocked, relevantly stocked Export Hut. But they have no trash. And they have a showroom. And they have sizes for everything. So it is not mere export-surplus-by-weight. The prices are about 50-75% more than Export Shops, yet about 1/3rd of any decent Indian brand. So if you’re buying for a kid, especially a girl - must visit! The designs are to die for.

The shopping arcade seems to be big enough (like a Shopprix at sector 61 in Noida) and there are many shops coming on the way. Why, they even have an escalator in the open area. There would be definitely a first-mover’s advantage, besides being so well located. So looking forward.

Future group launches ‘Home Town’ with a punch line “Ab Ghar banana Kitna Asan” but I had a different experience!

I got a chance of being amongst the first few customers of ‘Home Town’. Our story starts from the day we went to ‘The Great Indian Place’, on 7th of April (Saturday), the day when ‘Home Town’ was inaugurated.

7th April: The first impression was really good. It is a huge show room that caters every possible requirement for making/dressing-up a house. It has Furniture, Electronics, Kitchen appliances, Bedrooms, Dining rooms, Bath rooms, Sanitary Fittings, Wooden Boards, Curtains, Curtain Rods and everything one can imagine!. One of the best features was a good number of items at display. We went there to select a bed for our guest room, and there were lot of choices. We did not finalize on any thing that day, but overall were impressed by the showroom and gave it 9 on 10 for the size, display, so many options for customers. The only point that pinched us a little was the unavailability of staff and lack of awareness amongst them e.g. instead of someone from the staff coming to us, we literally had to catch hold of people to get the specifications and most of the staff didn’t have proper information about the products and gave wrong or no specifications. We felt that it was probably due to the first day.

After 2 days i.e. 9th April 2007, we went to Home Town again to finalize on the Bed and here’s the story:

9th April: We finalized 1 Bed and 2 Shoe Racks. The reason for buying shoe racks was mainly the convenience of getting them along with the bed “without any extra effort”. The attendant took more than 30 minutes to check the availability of goods. After a long wait, we finally booked the order and made payment. The Proposed Delivery date of items was 19th April 2007. At the time of booking we were explicitly told that the items would be delivered at our doorstep (from the warehouse) and an assembler would come along with the final receipt for products. Also, before coming, they’d give a confirmation call so that we can plan accordingly.

18th April: A day before the shipment was to arrive, I called up the attendant (Pawan) who had given me his phone number for any enquiries and was told that our order was ready and would be delivered tomorrow i.e. 19th April, 2007.

19th April”: Order did not arrive the next day and Pawan’s phone was switched off. I searched for HomeTown’s number and called on the helpline and was informed that due to some problems, delivery would be done the next day after 2 pm in the afternoon. Every thing seemed planned and perfect except some delay in booking. We were happy.

20th April: Again no information about delivery, I called twice at their customer care and was told by 2 different executives that they will call me back with the status, but there were no calls! By this time I’d started loosing my patience and after some shouting, was given contact number of Deepak at the warehouse from where the goods were to be delivered. Deepak confirmed that my booked items are loaded in a truck and will be at my home by evening. He also gave me the driver’s contact number which “did not” work. When I asked about the assembler, I was told point blank that he would come “after” the goods have been delivered. In the evening at 5 pm, 2 boxes were delivered without any intimation about the assembler. I was also not sure whether every thing that I’d ordered was inside these two boxes or not.
I called customer care to call the assembler. They said that it is already evening and all the assemblers have gone for assignments and would be there at my place tomorrow morning at 10:30.

21st April: Next morning, when no body arrived, I called at 11:00am and was told that since it’s Saturday (weekend), a busy day, everyone would be busy in the showroom so someone would visit me on Monday. When I explained the story from day before, the executive said that he’ll look into it and call me back. There was no call till afternoon. Every time I called up, some body said - ‘I will call you back, Sir’. I called them atleast 4-5 times, nothing happened and I was given the same answer. By evening, I knew almost all the customer care executives by their name - Nitesh, Deepak, Varun, Vinay! Finally, when I’d had enough, I talked to their Head. He asked me to calm down and assured me that the assembler will reach by 8:00pm.

The Assembler reached home at around 8:30pm. He opened the boxes and there was only bed inside, NO shoe racks!!! It was the limit and I’d blown my fuse! I immediately called and asked to talk to their Manager and explained the situation to him, He said ‘Sir, let me check at warehouse’, It was already enough for me , I just asked for my money back as I did not want the shoe racks anymore!!!

After a long conversation, he finally agreed to return the money. The next day, I went there early morning, collected the money and took a deep breath!

After meeting their management I found that the staff at HomeTown is really not experienced in handling such situations. They are young, less experienced and to top it all, after their training, all the processes were changed. All in all, the customer service at HomeTown is a Total Failure!!!

- The rest you’ll get at Lajpat Nagar

How many times have you heard people rave about The Lajpat Nagar Market and felt either unimpressed or uninitiated? Most of us have most of the time. Yet some of us know Lajpat Nagar like back of their hand since it is undoubtedly one of the most self-sufficient, be-all and end-all, colorful and most importantly best-bargains market place. (I still belong to the former lot).

I‘m here to share my pleasant surprises with the market last week. I happened to have a baby 2 years back and she happened to have her second birthday and incidentally we happened to decide to not celebrate the first birthday so it was a first experience of celebrating a kids birthday for all of us. Not that it was a big deal because all we did in the name of celebrations was that we went to her day-care and put together a small do over there. Yet, however conventionally-challenged parents we might be, I still have some aspirations of my own when it comes to parenting.

During my numerous trips to Lajpat Nagar and amidst buying Roasted Namkeen, Bhujia, Matthi, Chips and the family, I had noticed these shops (read:shacks) in a lane opposite Sita Fabrics (the furnishing guys). This is where you get suit pieces, duppattas, export quality clothes and Pakoras. There are about 3 shops (shacks) that look extremely colorful and sell party props.

In my list, I had to buy gifts for other kids of all age groups. Challenged, as I have mentioned above, as I am, I had forgotten about other important things like ‘birthday cap’ (or a crown these days for girls) and disposable plates and ware and ended up buying from another place later.

So coming back to gifts, since I have become a little more comfortable with hyper-marts, I had checked out Big-Bazaar in EDM to Vishal Mega Mart but nothing found anything worth the buck. I decided to check out these places in Lajpat Nagar since I anyways had to buy snacks from these shacks.

I felt like a kid in a toy store!

You get great return gifts, anywhere from 2 bucks onwards. There is no upper limit since you may decide to give away Barbie Doll Houses and spend Rs. 2000 per present. (what crap am I talking!)

So you get great gifts here, really great props like disposable ware, wrapping paper, stationery, decoration pieces, bags and the works. The prices would about half, if not a third. Bargaining to a certain extent (about 15-20%) also works in most of the cases so don’t give up.

All of the above is also available at Sadar Bazaar, and probably cheaper, but unless you’re throwing a really big party with a lot of elements, or you go there every other day anyway - I would advise to stick to Lajpat Nagar. There is also a shop or two in Karol Bagh and Jhandewalan but LN still scored better - both in terms of range and prices.

Look forward to a party and BYOG (Bring Your Own Guests) - the rest you can shop for at Lajpat Nagar… and love it!

I have not been too much into shopping from multi-brand outlets and super stores like Shopper’s Stop/Globus/Westside (Lifestyle is an exception). I mean I have been there, bought stuff, but that’s because I’m a compulsive shopper. Usually I prefer shopping from single brand shops as I am of an opinion that they give better and consistent deals - besides giving lesser options and much lesser trash.

I happened to visit to Globus with my sis yesterday at Shipra Mall (Indirapuram, Ghaziabad). I was aware that they had some sale going on from the 1st of June - I happen to be on possibly every store’s database, and that’s not something to boast about…yeah! I know it!! Coming back to the Hot Summer Sunday Sale : despite having a sale at a rather odd time - it usually begins from mid-july in Delhi - they had house brands on 30-40% off. Though most of the stuff was stacked under the Fresh Arrival section, there was still a sufficient amount of stuff that one could check out and buy.

There are pretty good mens’ shirt - in full and half sleeves and there are t-shirts to choose from. Unlike a regular sale, they did not have socks, handkerchiefs and undies in economy packs, but most of us have bought enough of that already to miss it. There is a decent lot in the kids section, though the difference between the ’sale’ stock and ‘fresh arrival’ stock is a lot. So chances are that you’ll end up buying the latter.

Under the ladies’ section, there are a lot of suits to choose from, and there are kurtis, skirts and that ethnic stuff. Not much in western-formal or indian-casual range.

Now, what pleased me the most was that even the not-on-sale items are pretty reasonably priced. I know, I sound like a shopping-illiterate here, but honestly in the last couple of years I did not think much of these stores and never took them seriously enough to buy something for myself. I have shopped here for my daughter and am quite happy with that, but not for myself in a long time.

You get a regular decent top in the range of 395-595 and decent pants between 595-1595. It’s not at all throw-away prices, but bearable.

The sale’s on till the 10th or so. If you’re free and not doing much, it a time well spent - in A/C!