There are malls everywhere, there’s those local neighborhood vegetable shops, then there are those push-cart vendors as well, and finally the online retailers like bigbasket.
The names that are all over the place in Bangalore include RelianceFresh/Mart; Big Bazaar; Hypercity; Spar; Heritage Fresh; D-Mart; and few others.
Those who have been in B’lore for a long time swear by two other places – The City Market and The Russel Market. After much persuasion from the local B’loreans I decided to check them out after all.
The City Market:
Also called the K.R. Market. Huge place with independent vendors and farmers setting up shops to sell vegetables and fruits. They also have massive flower market at this place. It’s a beautiful sight and a veggies delight. You mostly get the local produce here and rarely the the exotics (broccoli, water chestnut,…).
Additionally, the prices here are immensely better for most fruits and vegetables. For instance, other day I got Okra for Rs.20/- per Kg. The same thing at the local supermarket was almost Rs.40/- per Kg! I got the local peas for 40 per Kg that was marked 65 per Kg at Hypercity!
There are a few draw backs too though that one may not quite appreciate. Top among them is cleanliness or lack of it. It’s as if the place sees no maintenance at all. There’s organic waste all over the place raising quite a stink.
Chaos runs deep in this place. Finding order in this mess of randomness would be impossible.
Although there’s ample parking at the place, it desperately needs sprucing up.
Other than that, it’s a great place to shop for your veggies and fruits. Most of them are willing to accommodate some bargaining and haggling too – inspite of the prices being already on the cheaper side.
The Russel Market:
Located in Shivaji Nagar. This is a bit more organized than the City Market. The way the vendors here arrange their fruits and vegetables also appears a bit more sophisticated than the City Market.
The prices here are on the higher side. In fact they are comparable in prices to those at any of the malls. On the plus side though you get those exotic vegetables too – and they are slightly on the lower pricing side. For instance, I got Broccoli at Rs.60/- per Kg that’s atleast 80-120 per Kg other places. Among all places in B’lore, I found Broccoli to be most expensive at the Hypercity.
The negatives of the place include lack of adequate parking. Also, there was very foul stench of what seemed like dead-rotting-meat as I was walking to the place. The stench was so strong, I considered turning back and giving the place a miss. Anyway, I braved my way across controlling my urge to throw up all along. On the return path, I chose the longer way out to avoid as far as possible going anywhere near the stinky zones!
It was quite an ordeal!
Would I go to any of these places again? City Market is surely on my cards, but not the Russel Market. Unless the rotting-meat stench is fixed, I’ll not dare to venture out here again!
Will try and add some photos/videos if I get a chance.