Dolly General Store

Dolly General Store is located in Manjalpur, specifically in the Kolwadi area, Pune 106. It’s a typical neighborhood shop where we sell a little bit of everything. You’ll find sacks of rice and lentils sitting on the floor, and rows of snacks hanging from the ceiling. We also keep the daily basics like milk, bread, and eggs. I start the day pretty early to receive the milk delivery before the sun is even up. Throughout the day, we get people from the nearby houses coming in for small things they forgot to buy at the big market. Kids stop by on their way home from school to get some candy or a cold drink from the fridge. The shop is quite packed, so I have to remember exactly where everything is kept, or it would take forever to find a specific brand of soap or a packet of salt. Kolwadi is a nice enough place, and we’ve gotten to know all the families around here. We know who likes which brand of tea and who usually pays at the end of the month. It’s a very personal way of running a business, I suppose. We don't have a computerized billing system or anything like that; it’s just me and my notebook. When the power goes out, we just use a torch and keep going. It’s just a simple life here at the store.