Rediscovering Gokhale Road one year after the onset of lockdown in 2020
Thane’s first street is thriving by adding variety and convenience
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In 2020, we had shopped at Gokhale Road for an appliance just before India started its lockdown series on March 25, 2021. Visiting Gokhale Road again yesterday, nearly a year after that visit, here is what we found.
We generally use Malhar talkies’ parking lot for our car on Gokhale Road. The theatre’s staff told us yesterday that their auditorium had stopped shows since March 13, 2020, and had not reopened since.
TMC gave Gokhale Road a make-over in lockdown, and after that, you can now see broad stone footpaths all along the road, making walking and shopping easier for visitors.
Last night, we found the hustle and bustle back on Gokhale Road’s with stores open, shoppers back, and so too the traffic which frequently backs upon this Thane’s main road. The many eateries here are now open, with some still not letting patrons, but all were having the regular customers back for their favorite snacks.
Here is a list of new stores on Gokhale Road and its by-lanes that we shopped at yesterday.
Pitambari: Thane’s homegrown Pitambari brand has moved to a bigger store close to its old corner store in a small lane on Gokhale Road. Pitambari offers discounts to its shoppers with a higher one of 15% for buying before 4 pm and a 10% discount for evening shopping.
Pitambari did venture into face masks and sanitizers during 2020, but right now, they are back to selling their famous dishwashing soap and metal scouring powder.
Pitambari has also introduced food products and advertises its farm tourism venture along the Konkan coast at its store. Pitambari’s helpful staff continues to assist customers at its store.
Healthy Roots: I spotted a new store, Healthy Roots (https://www.healthyroots.com/ on Gokhale Road some months ago, and that one is now active and attracting customers.
This store has a small grinding mill and lets customers bring in dry grains and spices for the store to make flour.
As cold-pressed oils and those made without chemicals in demand, Healthy Roots looks to cater to such requirements and sells a range of such oils.
This bright store aims to bring back traditional foods to homes and right now offers cold-pressed oils, flours, honey, spices, and tofu. Their mill at the store entrance pulverizes grains or spices to make powders for their customers. Healthy Roots has two Thane stores, one at Gokhale Road and another at Hiranandani Meadows.
As the current age is of experiential marketing, Healthy Roots is on the right track by letting customers see their grains becoming flours. Consumers can also choose genuine honey at this store to avoid buying honey from processing or adulteration like media highlighted in the recent past.
Kanitkar’s: This branch of a famous Dombivli brand sells only laddus and twenty-four varieties of them. This store on Mahatma Phule road started in February 2021 and now attracts shoppers to its bright orange colors and the shining copper containers they display their laddus. The store lets shoppers sample the laddus, and that is how they induce shoppers to purchase.
The laddus are regular ones ranging from fasting or worship, anytime snacks, winter food, for lactating mothers, building strength, and even dieting.
The store’s owners patiently explain the range to customers and help you choose their products. You buy laddus that range in price from twenty to twenty-five rupees per laddu, by the number which the store offers inboxes. After Dombivli, Thane now has the distinction of hosting a store that sells Kanitakar’s laddus.
The innovation at Kanitkar’s is of sticking to just one product that can meet varied food needs and then presenting a traditional product attractively to entice customers.
Who knows, after seeing this store, children may prefer laddus over candy and chocolate?
Suguna Baug’s Farm Fresh: Close to Kanitkar’s is another new store that offers food and lifestyle products. Suguna Baug is an agri-tourism venture near Nerul and famous in Mumbai for their picnic packages to a farm and offering homely food during tourist visits. Now, Suguna Baug has ventured into processing their agricultural products and offers those to Thane residents.
Farm Fresh has fruits and vegetables outside their store. They also offer a range of mangoes which they source from other farms neighboring theirs. Their store has all their products, of which they have a range of pickles, dairy products, honey, and cold-pressed oils. They also stock pulses and cereals, spices, papads and chips, syrups, pulps, and chutneys.
They have spice mixes and ready-to-cook products, and a range of sweets, including candies. They also sell ornamental plants, personal care products, and even gift packs. For sure, you can spend a lot of time just browsing at this store which has a range of unique products. How about Beeswax with chemical-free Kumkum or cinnamon-flavored mustache wax? Farm Fresh offers those two and many other unusual personal care and home scenting products.
Like at their farm, friendly and helpful Suguna Baug Farm Fresh staff guide you about their products to help you make your choice. Farm Fresh products have premium prices, though, as I found looking at their listing for mangoes and other products.
Suguna Baug Farm Fresh is currently running a 30% discount on its products as part of Women’s Day celebrations, and you can avail of that till today (March 14, 2021) evening.
If you are a fan of malls and never ventured into Thane’s streets for shopping, I hope my description of four stores in and around Gokhale Road has piqued your interest to go there soon. Being able to walk in the open and the freedom to flit in and out of small stores, you will soon appreciate the pleasures of shopping in traditional stores.
You may find the mall stores at Gokhale Road, but you won’t find Gokhale Road stores at malls which is a clinching reason for you to patronize Gokhale Road.
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