Gupta Coldrink General Store

In the middle of Masoor Khan Market in Agra, you’ll find our little spot, Gupta Coldrink General Store. Agra gets incredibly hot in the summer, so our refrigerators are the most important things in the shop. You can hear them humming all day long. We stock a lot of different cold drinks because that’s what people are looking for when they are walking through the market. Beside the drinks, we have the usual general store items like biscuits and soap. The market is a very crowded place, with narrow lanes and lots of noise from the vendors and shoppers. Our store isn't very big, so we have to use every inch of wall space for shelving. Sometimes we have to climb a ladder just to reach a box of matches or a packet of chips. We’ve been here in Masoor Khan Market for years, and we know the rhythms of the place—when it gets busy and when it’s time to just sit and have a cup of tea. We don’t do any big advertising; people just know we are here when they need something cold to drink or a quick snack. The floor is made of old stone that stays relatively cool, which is nice when it’s forty degrees outside. We keep things simple here. We just make sure the coolers are stocked and the doors are open for the people of Agra. It’s a straightforward life running a shop in such a historic part of town.