Two birds with one stone. A new “supermarket” near City Centre offers women’s kurtis for Rs 20, men’s jeans also for Rs 20 and kids’ wear at Rs 10. It is a second-hand retail outlet, aimed mainly at people who cannot afford to buy new items. But then it also offers residents a chance to donate their used items, thereby clearing their homes and reducing the volume sent to landfills.
Home For You lies in the “hotel para” of Salt Lake, as the prime property is also the backyard of a huge slum. It has, in fact, been carved out of a corner of Golden Tulip hotel. It is an enclosed space of 900sq ft that has clothes on hangers, Famous Five story books and MBA entrance textbooks on shelves, and even random items like baby bathtubs, shoes, and ceiling fans.
Dignity, not charity
While the prices are at throwaway rates, the founders are careful not to offer anything for free. “Everyone has self-respect. We want the needy to enjoy these products but not feel like they’re at the receiving end of charity. They are paying, so let them have the satisfaction of browsing the store to reject what they don’t like and select what they do,” says Mamta Binani, one of the founders of the store. “Some just come to window shop.”
Raja Turi couldn’t believe the price tags when he saw them. “Are these prices right? Is it 30 or is a zero missing at the end?” he asked in disbelief. Turi is a driver who had ferried his patrons to City Centre and stumbled upon this store while taking a look around.
So excited was he that he called home right away to share his discovery. “I’ve asked my family to take the Metro from Sealdah and land up immediately. We normally shop at Sealdah and the jeans I’m wearing now cost Rs 300 there.”
Footfall was great even for a hot weekday afternoon when The Telegraph Salt Lake visited. Not 10 minutes went by without a customer walking in. Most were slum dwellers.
Prakash Gujarati, a regular at the store, was looking to buy items he could resell at a margin. “The salesgirls know me and don’t mind. I’m a clothes hawker and any profit I make through such sales is my livelihood. I buy clothes in bulk from Maniktala but here one finds uncommon clothes at times,” said the bulk shopper.
Chance to upcycle
The store has only been open a few months but they already receive a steady supply of items. “Many are fashionable clothes in good condition but then we invite residents to donate tattered clothes too,” says Binani. “They can be camouflaged as layers on blankets. Strips of cloth are stitched into fashionable appliqué wraparounds or cloth bags.” A large source of cloth strips is tailoring shops, that otherwise have to pay to have them removed.
The store, has, in fact, received an order for 1,500 bags from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) out of reused cloth strips. They have two tailors at the store and many more working from home. “If you know anyone in need of a job, send them our way, we will give them sewing work,” says co-founder, Ashish Mittal. “If they cannot sew, we will give them simpler work like pasting sequins on clothes. The idea is to generate employment.” All proceeds from the store are ploughed back to buy more sewing machines and the like.
Mittal, a BC Block resident, is also the managing director of Golden Tulip. “This store has timings but if you come at odd hours, feel free to donate your items at the hotel and we shall have them brought here,” he assures.
Meal for Rs 5
Like malls are incomplete without food courts, there’s a food stall here too. They provide lunch of rice and vegetables for Rs 5. “We have about 50 people coming for lunch,” said a staff member, Kinjal Mehta. The food comes from the Golden Tulip kitchen.
In the queue for food were drivers and even a man in the uniform of a food delivery app. “The food I deliver comes at prices unthinkable for us. Meals at pice hotels too cost nothing less than Rs 40 but if I’m in this area around lunchtime I come for food here. The meal is filling and saves me money,” said Bijoy Adhikari, taking a helping of soyabean rice.