Makania Departmental Store

Makania Departmental Store is located right on Noor Wala Road here in Visakhapatnam. We call it a departmental store, but it’s really just a place where we try to keep a bit of everything so people don’t have to run all over town. Being in the 530003 area, we see a lot of different people every day. Some are just passing through, but many are families who have lived here for generations. The shop can get a bit cramped when we have more than five people inside at once. We’ve got shelves reaching all the way to the ceiling, so sometimes I have to use a little stool to reach the stuff at the top. It's mostly me and my cousin running the place. We start early, usually before the sun is fully up, to get everything wiped down and ready. You’ll find things like spices, packaged snacks, and cleaning supplies tucked into the corners. The air conditioning isn't the best, so it gets a little warm in the summer months, but we keep the cold drinks fridge stocked to help with that. We don't really have a big staff or a fancy checkout system. We just use a basic register and write some things down in a notebook. It’s a straightforward way of doing things. We’ve seen the neighborhood change a lot over the years, but our little corner on Noor Wala Road stays pretty much the same. Most evenings we just sit outside for a bit after closing up.