Darjeeling, July 27: The opening of a departmental store today triggered a human deluge in the hill town.
A Big Bazaar — the brand name for stores under the Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited chain — opened shop at Kadambari Rink Mall this morning. This is the first venture of the group in north Bengal. The store is expected to be officially inaugurated by the end of August.
By 3pm, an estimated 7,000 people had already visited the retail outlet with the swelling crowd covering every inch of the 35,000sqft shopping space. In fact, fear of a stampede forced the store authorities to stop the entry of customers for almost an hour.
According to residents of the town, the extraordinary rush could be attributed to the special opening offers.
“On a buy of more than Rs 999 today every family will receive 1kg of sugar and 1kg of wheat flour free, every month for the next one year,” said Pasang Agarwal, a resident of the town who visited the store.
The present outlet has 10 units dedicated to everything from food items to branded electronic goods and appliances.
“The range of products is impressive and the prices are good,” said Palmu Yolmo. “There was discounts up to 60 per cent on most of the items on sale.”
Big Bazaar also plans to increase its shopping space to 51,000sqft within a couple of months.
“We made our entry in north Bengal from Darjeeling as we believe it makes business sense to enter virgin markets. The response is there for you to see,” said Sandeep Marwal, the business head (eastern region) of Pantaloon Retail (I) Ltd. “Once we increase our floor space, we will incorporate entertainment, gaming, lounge bar and hair salon.”
“Once our business stabilises, we will introduce fruits and vegetables too. We will buy these items from the local market as we believe they too should grow with our entry,” Marwal added.
A Big Bazaar — the brand name for stores under the Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited chain — opened shop at Kadambari Rink Mall this morning. This is the first venture of the group in north Bengal. The store is expected to be officially inaugurated by the end of August.
By 3pm, an estimated 7,000 people had already visited the retail outlet with the swelling crowd covering every inch of the 35,000sqft shopping space. In fact, fear of a stampede forced the store authorities to stop the entry of customers for almost an hour.
According to residents of the town, the extraordinary rush could be attributed to the special opening offers.
“On a buy of more than Rs 999 today every family will receive 1kg of sugar and 1kg of wheat flour free, every month for the next one year,” said Pasang Agarwal, a resident of the town who visited the store.
The present outlet has 10 units dedicated to everything from food items to branded electronic goods and appliances.“The range of products is impressive and the prices are good,” said Palmu Yolmo. “There was discounts up to 60 per cent on most of the items on sale.”
Big Bazaar also plans to increase its shopping space to 51,000sqft within a couple of months.
“We made our entry in north Bengal from Darjeeling as we believe it makes business sense to enter virgin markets. The response is there for you to see,” said Sandeep Marwal, the business head (eastern region) of Pantaloon Retail (I) Ltd. “Once we increase our floor space, we will incorporate entertainment, gaming, lounge bar and hair salon.”
“Once our business stabilises, we will introduce fruits and vegetables too. We will buy these items from the local market as we believe they too should grow with our entry,” Marwal added.
