India was a different country before.When people purchased a car it would be an Ambassador.When someone wanted to buy a suitcase it would be VIP.And for shoes it was Bata.We lived in a world that was defined by these things.
Bata made good shoes in the old days.It made shoes that we could afford.The shops were small and the shop assistants would be known to us.There were better shoes available & worse but Bata was associated with the middle class mainly.
Then in the nineties Bata changed.The shops became bigger and more elaborate.They began stocking foreign brands like Hush Puppies, Dr Scholls etc.Bata became a place where you could buy fancy, expensive shoes.There were other shoe companies like Woodland, Metro & Liberty.You could see that Bata was losing its core customers-the indian middle class who could no longer afford Bata shoes.The company has many big stores these days but the quality is not as good as it used to be.It is selling expensive stuff, the premium range of shoes, socks, bags & belts but the quality is questionable.