Ragavendra General Store

Ragavendra General Store is right on the busy OMR Road in Thoraipakkam. We are located at No 36, very close to the toll gate. If you live around here, you know how much traffic there is. We opened this store to help the people staying in the nearby IT parks and apartments. It’s a basic shop where you can get your daily milk, newspapers, and groceries. The mornings are always a rush with people trying to get things before they head to work. We have to be quick with the billing then. Thoraipakkam has grown so much in the last ten years. When we first started, there were fewer buildings. Now, it's all concrete. The shop is small and the shelves are packed with everything from spices to detergents. Sometimes it's hard to find where I put the smaller items. We don't use any fancy computers for everything; mostly we just know the prices by heart. The heat in Chennai gets quite bad in the afternoons, so we have a small fan that barely does the job. It’s a lot of work standing here all day, but it’s our living. We know the regular auto drivers and the office goers who stop by for a cool drink. It’s just a regular part of the street. Sometimes we run out of change and have to ask the neighbor shop. That is just how it goes on OMR. The dust from the road is a bit much but we wipe the counters twice a day.