Shri Ganesh General Store

This store is tucked away in Gali No.5, right on the lane where the bank is. People around Vijay Nagar just call it the bank wali gali. I’ve lived in this part of Amritsar for most of my life so opening a shop here felt like the right thing to do. We carry mostly kitchen staples like rice, oils, and spices. It is a small shop but we manage to fit a lot of things on the wooden shelves. Batala Road is always noisy with traffic but our street is a bit more tucked away. I open up early because that’s when people want their bread and milk. Sometimes the deliveries are late and things get a bit messy behind the counter. I don't really bother with fancy displays or lights. It’s just a place to get what you need for the house. My neighbors come in to chat more than they come in to buy things sometimes, and I don't mind that at all. It keeps the day moving. The winters here in Punjab are quite cold, so we usually have a small heater going by the stool. When the kids get out of school, they all swarm in for candies and chips. It's a lot of noise for twenty minutes then it goes back to being quiet. We just keep going day by day, making sure the jars are full and the floor is swept. Sometimes I think about painting the walls, but then I just get busy with something else.