Vijayalakshmi Foods

Our shop is down on the ground floor in Pragathinagar. It’s Plot No 505, right where people walk to the main market area in Kukatpally. At Vijayalakshmi Foods, we spend most of our morning just getting the bags and containers sorted out. There’s a lot of dust from the road outside, so we are always wiping the counters. It’s a two-unit space, so we have a bit of room to move around, but it fills up fast with stock. We deal with various food items that people need for their kitchens. Sometimes the light in the back room flickers, but we haven't got around to fixing the wiring yet. It’s mostly family members or a couple of helpers working here. We see the same faces every week from the nearby apartments. They come in looking for something specific, and we try to find it in the stacks. The floor gets a bit messy when we are unpacking new crates of lentils or spices. We don't have a big sign, just the name on the front. It’s usually quiet in the afternoons when everyone is at work, so that's when we do the weighing and packing. We’ve been in this spot for a while and the neighbors know us well. It isn't a fancy supermarket, just a practical place to get what you need for dinner. We try to keep things organized but it is a lot of work.