Anil Stores

You can find Anil Stores right on K C Road in the Cossipore area of Kolkata. It's been our spot for a long time. The shop is small and tucked between other buildings, so you might miss it if you're driving too fast. We keep things pretty basic here. There’s a wooden counter where we stand and rows of shelves behind us. Most of the people who come in are from the nearby houses. We see the same faces every week, which makes the days go by faster. Kolkata weather can be tough, especially the humidity, but we’re used to it by now. The shop doesn't have air conditioning, just a fan that hums all day. Sometimes we sit outside on a stool when it’s slow, watching the rickshaws go by on K C Road. We don’t have a website or any of that modern stuff. If someone needs something, they just walk in and ask. We try to keep enough stock so we don't run out of the common things people need. It’s a lot of work lifting boxes and rearranging things, but it keeps us busy. We aren't trying to grow into a big chain or anything. We are just happy being the local store for this neighborhood. Every evening we pull down the shutters and head home, only to do it all again tomorrow. It’s a steady rhythm that we have followed for many years without change.