Retail Design Scene in India.

South India, for all purposes, is thought to be more nerdy, conservative and money-conscious. People in other parts of India sometimes do tend to think that south-Indians have garish taste in everything.

South India is not just known for its conservativeness, but also for being very closeted and choosy about what they call ‘their own’. A typical Tamilian, when it comes to shopping, no matter how far they travel in the world, will prefer to shop in Chennai for a wedding or function at home. And though the same is prevalent in most Indians, the people in the South are more so.

On my recent trips to Bangalore and Hyderabad, I realised how much the retail environment had actually emerged, and changed the lifestyle of people in the South. And how they have adapted the new to merge with their old, instead of the other way round.

So what happens when the retail boom hits the South? It booms so much that the ‘West’ (read as Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa) are put to shame, literally. Even the style, economy and film capital Mumbai is a poor caricature to the kind of retail buildings built in the South. From 7 storeys for just saris, to a mall for ‘whatever you want under the sun’ if you are getting married, to furniture and more, the South has retail structures that are larger, more specialised and also better looking as compared to a Mumbai, or for that matter a Pune, that looks like a poor cousin in comparison.

Agreed that space is a constraint in Mumbai, but design? Why are there no well-designed stores or store windows for that matter? Malls and stores in Mumbai, which started the mall culture in the country, fail to impress once you travel down South. Large show windows, well-designed details, better products and also buildings that have a better setback, dominate the skyline of Bangalore and Hyderabad. And these are just the 2-tier cities, not the large booming metros that Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai are.

So what is it that the big cities lack and the smaller cities have taken the opportunity of? Is it because the bigger cities are monopolised by a certain set of architects and designers, who are as old in their ideas as their firm is? Or does the South have a better spending power that a store of a big brand in India, tends to spend better in the South, to do up the interiors and design detailing, than in any store elsewhere. Its an interesting point to be explored.

Whatever the reasons are, it just goes on to prove that South Indians are not only cash-conscious, but also meticulous enough to demand their money being used to ‘look the best!’.

(I apologise for the quality of pics here- they have been taken thru moving vehicles and a low camera battery!)

- Text and pics (c) Darpana Athale.