New Laxmi General Stores

Living and working in Pardi means you see the same faces every single day. Our shop, New Laxmi General Stores, is right on Bhandara Road here in Nagpur, so we get a mix of locals and people just passing through town. It’s a bit of a squeeze inside sometimes because we keep adding new things whenever a customer asks for something we didn't have before. Last week it was a specific brand of tea, and now those boxes are stacked near the entrance. I usually spend my afternoons sitting near the fan because the Nagpur heat is no joke. The floor is concrete and it’s seen a lot of wear over the years. We keep the registers and the daily tally in a thick notebook because computers always seem to act up when you need them most. It’s not some big supermarket where you can't find anyone to help you. If you need something from the top shelf, I just grab the stool. My son helps out after his classes sometimes, mostly moving the heavy bags of flour or stacking the cleaning supplies. We don't really do anything fancy with the windows or signs. People just know we are here. It’s a bit dusty because of the road construction nearby, but we wipe things down as often as we can. It’s just a normal life running a store in this part of the city.