A mini mall just a drive away

Even though a number of supermarkets have mushroomed in the City, Delhiites prefer visiting the weekly day bazaars.

And it works well especially for those with paucity of time. All they need to do is take out some extra time and shop and stock for the entire week from these bazaars.

Madhu Joanne, a resident of Amar Colony visits the weekly Shani Bazaar (Saturday market) for a refill of groceries. She says, “For professionals like me who have a fixed time to reach office but no time to come back, the day bazaars are a great boon as they are open till quite late in the night and are also very economical. It is like a mini mall which suits everybody’s pocket.” 

The bazaars are also a hit among college students who purchase clothes and jewellery at a cheaper rate here. College student Radhika Sharma who regularly shops at Mangal Bazaar (Tuesday market) in Sheikh Sarai says, “I live in a rented apartment here and a lot of my expenditure goes in food and other basic requirements.

But I cannot wear same clothes to college so I try to make variations in my wardrobe by buying cheap clothes and artificial jewellery from here. The quality of the clothes is not that bad and one doesn’t feel so bad throwing them away after one use.”

And those like Geetanjali Dhar have taken on this habit of frequenting the local bazaar from her mother. “My mother used to shop for groceries from Shani Bazaar in Lajpat Nagar. Now after shifting to Sarita Vihar, I still go there with my mother,” she said.

This sales executive adds, “The love of visiting a bazaar attracts us to this place every now and then. We can buy vegetables from supermarkets too, but the fun of coming here every week has become a habit now.”

A lot of vendors in these bazaars travel from different corners of the City to earn a living. Sudhir Kumar Singh, a crockery vendor at Budh Bazaar (Wednesday market) in Sangam Vihar travels from Greater Noida to Sangam Vihar to set up his stall every week. He says, “I stay quite far and have to travel a lot to set up my stall.

Sometimes I earn Rs 500 in a day, but then there are other times when I even suffer a loss. There is no certainity in terms of income.”

And what about bargaining at these bazaars? Interestingly, according to vendors, the high-heeled ones bargain the most. Suresh Kumar, a plastic vendor at Shukar Bazaar (Friday market) says, “The customers come here from well-off families and get cheap rates on items yet they bargain a lot.”