Paranjothi Stores

Paranjothi Stores is tucked into the middle of the action at 159, Sathiymoorthy Bajar in Aruppukottai. If you’ve ever been to the Bajar, you know how loud and crowded it can get. Our shop is right in the thick of it. It’s an old-fashioned store with a high counter and shelves that reach all the way to the back. We have to be very organized because the space is limited and we try to stock a little bit of everything. From the moment we open the shutters in the morning, there’s a sense of energy from the market outside. We hear the vegetable sellers shouting and the motorcycles squeezing through the narrow lanes. It’s a lot of noise, but you get used to it after a while. We don’t have a lot of bells and whistles here. It’s just a place where you can find household goods and dry provisions. We spend a lot of time talking to customers, mostly about how the prices of things are going up or what’s happening in the town. In the evenings, the Bajar gets even more packed, and we’re usually running around trying to help three people at once. It’s tiring, but that’s just the nature of being in such a busy market area. We’ve stayed at 159 for years and haven't felt the need to change much about how we operate.