Sixty-year-old store bids goodbye

Kusum General Stores on Avenue Road, that ran its business for the last 60 years, is one of the oldest shops to have survived the onslaught of the online retail business

The 60-year-old Kusum General Stores on Avenue Road will down its shutters for good this weekend.

The store that was started by C V Krishna Murthy on December 10, 1960 has been a one-stop shop for many customers, with many being third generation regulars. “This is the first business that I started after I got married,” Krishna Murthy tells Metrolife. The 80-year-old slips into nostalgia when he gets talking about how he started the business.

“I didn’t have any elders in our family to get me started in business. I learnt the trade from scratch. It is so hard to let go of something that you have nourished from the start,” he adds.

The store stocks and sells daily household items such as toothpaste, powder, soap and more. It does not sell provisions.

“Everything was sold at one rupee below the MRP. I was the first to start the concept of ‘buy and save’. Many others followed suit. This, I believed, would not only reinforce faith in the customers, but also help me break even. This way both sides are benefited,” reasons Krishna Murthy.

He never used plastic in his shop. “We would pack the items in paper and cloth bags and shunned plastic, even without being told to do so. Today, it pains me to see shops using plastic without a care for the environment,” he says.

The shop has a loyal customer base built over the years. Many of them have even become his friends.

Krishna Murthy also made sure that the hawkers, beside their shop, were not evicted and the surroundings were kept clean and free of garbage. “I also fought against corruption at all levels whenever I had to go to the government office to get some paper work done,” says Krishna Murthy.

He shares the story of a time when he was so frustrated with the indifference at the government office that he wrote to the Central government. “I received a prompt reply reassuring me that my work will be done. I never wanted senior citizens like me to fall prey to corruption,” he narrates.

Krishna Murthy says that he is content that he ran his business without cheating anybody. “Online portals like Amazon took away a chunk of the next generation customers, who would rather order online than shop from the local general store. The malls further ate into our businesses. We found no sense in
continuing our business,” he says. The fact that his sons, who took over the reins of this business, were able to educate their children and see them placed in good jobs also aided in the decision to shut shop.

The members of the family hold fond memories of spending time at the store. Kusum, Krishna’s granddaughter, remembers spending her summer vacation at the shop. “I would help my grandfather and learn a thing or two about the business. I realised that more than managing the shop, it was his warmth and friendly ways that attracted customers. He forged many friendships along the way,” say Kusum.

C K Sreenath, Krishna’s son says that he took over the business soon after his post graduation. “In those days it was a given to lend a hand to your father’s business. Today’s generation doesn’t necessarily feel the need to toe that line. They have their own dreams and ambitions. We realised that a lot of people were moving to online purchase and it is the retail businesses that bore the brunt of this. We have started clearing the shop of all stocks,” he says.

The shop will remain open till the end of the week.