Departmental Store

I went shopping this weekend at Kannan Departmental Store, a 6 level store in close to my apartment in Coimbatore. The closest I could compare it to is an Indian version of a Target or Walmart in the US- a place with good prices where you can buy about ANYTHING imaginable. The first floor is a bakery and also an area with electronics and office supplies. The 2^nd floor is a full-on grocery store, the 3^rd level is full of shoes, belt and tools. The 4^th floor is kitchenwares while the 5^th floor is housewares and finally the 6^th floor is toys and sporting goods.

The biggest difference between such a store here and in the US is that here, checkout is an extremely painful and inefficient process. The first problem is that you must buy things on that floor only, you cannot take things from floor to floor. So, while there is the convenience of having all this stuff in one store, you actually need to pay separately on each floor. Second, the checkout process is unnecessarily complicated. It goes like this:

1. You wait in a long line to get a bill for the items you want to purchase

2. You go to a separate area and register (and new line) to pay for the goods with the receipt from the 1^st register

3. You go a separate area (and line) to pick up the things you purchased- way too much work when this could be all in one area! This is a common thing in Tamil Nadu though, one of my favorite places in Chennai, a shop called Saravana Stores in Chennai uses the exact same process.

I thought you might enjoy some pictures of from the store so here you go- enjoy!

What self-respecting store doesn't carry crossbows?

Or nunchucks? Metal or wood? Oh yeah, they got BOTH!

The shuttlecocks have real feathers- I've never seen this! Oldschool!

The noodle aisle- I've never seen so many noodles.

Bulk rice- over 40 different types!

Bulk pickle! Not your western (cucumber) pickle, but spicy (Indian) pickle- it's delicious chopped up stuff in a spicy sauce, not unlike kimchi. Pickled mango is my favorite and HOT! I'm bringing some back for sure!

The curry aisle. I'm in heaven and bringing a whole suitcase back if I can!

Spice for Gobi 65- just one of 100's in the aisle. This post is starting to make me hungry... I'm going to dinner ;)