Recently my wife and I were exploring  a new mall in Bangalore creatively titled ‘1 MG Road’. It seemed like an interesting mall with a lot of popular stores and its spanking clean new look combined with vast spaces which didn’t make the mall feel crowded. As we were strolling through the mall, ‘The Bombay Store‘ caught our eye on the 1st floor! It looked interesting due to the perfect blend of traditional & contemporary look in its products which were displayed in the store. Our curiosity got the better of us as we walked into the Bombay Store to check out few products.
Immediately we were greeted by a pleasantly smiling store manager who welcomed us to his store and asked us whether we were looking for something specific. We mentioned we were just browsing and immediately he withdrew himself and let us shop in peace. I liked this mentality because otherwise in many stores the store attendants keep pestering you at every step!
One of the best examples of the blend of traditional and contemporary style in The Bombay Store for us was the Elephant themed merchandise. There were not only Elephant artifacts in clay, wood and leather but also clocks with Elephant logos, cups with elephant logos and lo and behold, an Elephant branded laptop bag!!!
This blend of traditional and contemporary style in products is very rare to find in India specially at very affordable prices! My wife was very pleased to see this and was planning how to shop for wonderful products here and decorate our house with these products. Some of the other products which blended traditional aspect in them while retaining the contemporary look were Rajasthani Stole with matching Chappals, Coasters with cow imprints and cups with Indian insignia. These adorn the walls of our home right now and complete the ethnic look which my wife has planned for our humble abode!
The prices at Bombay Store were so affordable that we also picked up some gifts for my parents and in-laws! Â We loved the ‘Katputli’ prints on the 2.5 x 2.5″ Acrylic Magnets which could be used to stick to the fridge or almirah. They were colorful, reminded us of the beauty of India and were really classy magnets too. So we not only picked up few for our family but also as gifts to foreign clients and friends as this will remind them of the culture of India, at the same time being very useful to stick notes to fridges too. I guess these Acrylic Magnets though are very small and very cheap, embody the true spirit of ‘The Bombay Store’ by blending traditional style in contemporary artefacts! We are looking forward to our next visit to the Bombay Store to shop even more interesting artefacts and ready made garments!
