Ratanlal Agarwal General Store

This store has been sitting here in the Sardar Patel Nagar Labour Colony for many years now. It is a general store, so we try to keep a bit of everything on the shelves, from washing soap to small toys for the kids who live nearby. The labour colony is a busy place and people are always coming in at odd hours to pick up things they ran out of. We have big metal bins for the loose grains and sugar which take up a lot of the floor space. The counter is made of dark wood and has a few scratches from all the coins and bags being slid across it over time. It gets quite dusty because of the road right outside, so we spend a lot of time wiping down the jars and packets. We don't have a big sign, just the name written on the wall so people know where to stop. It feels like a small community here where everyone knows everyone else’s business. Sometimes we run out of things if the truck is late, but people usually don't mind waiting a day or two. The light inside isn't very bright so you have to look closely at the labels. It's a simple shop for hard-working people who just want to get their supplies and get back home to their families after a long day of work.