Sri Laxmi Fancy & General Stores

Being on College Road here in Vijayawada, we get a lot of students and local families coming through. Sri Laxmi Fancy & General Stores has a bit of everything. We have the fancy stuff like bangles and hair clips, but we also keep the regular general items like soaps and shampoos. The 520001 area is pretty lively, especially when the colleges let out for the day. The shop can get quite cramped when five or six people come in at once looking for different things. We spend our time dusting the glass cases where the smaller items are kept. It’s a lot of work to keep track of all the little things, like buttons or different shades of sewing thread. We don't have a big warehouse, so everything we have is usually right there on the floor or tucked under the counter in boxes. The heat in Vijayawada can be tough, so we keep the door open and have a couple of old fans going all day. Sometimes we sit on the stools near the entrance when it's quiet and just watch the bikes go past on the road. It’s a family-run kind of thing, so there’s usually one of us here from morning until the sun goes down. We don't do much advertising; people just know to come to us for their small household needs and bits of jewelry. It’s just a normal shop doing its thing for the local people who walk by and need something quickly.