With great fanfare Big Bazaar was opened in Coimbatore some 2 months back. I visited it on its first week, wondered with awe about the space and goods spread over the entire area. It is a walkable distance from my house, and I heard others complain about the parking area.
From yesterday, there is some mega sale going on for a few items for 3 days. I went to purchase a few items with my children after 8 pm. The staff did not allow us to enter through the main gate. We were advised to enter through the parking gate. Abiding it was the most foolish thing I did. The path was a 60 degree slope down, muddy and slippery. With wooden planks ziz zag paths like Thirupathi were constructed, and we had to walk round and round in the same place, and I saw many women with children could not even walk steadily in the slope without falling. This ridiculous journey lead to the basement with stagnant water and smell from the generator room. The queue at last saw light in the basement floor of the Bazaar, and I wondered, what a way to treat buyers, who are going to buy furnitures and Electronic materials that are going to cost them in thousands.
The shopping was another bizarre experience. The regular routes were changed by arranging things on the way and the crowd had to go round and round without knowing the way out. The billing counters were badly managed and slow; while the customers were waiting, the staff were quaralling with each other on some petty matters. Many items like blades and after shave lotion of particular brands are missing. Now, you know, what I went to buy there.
The prices, are they cheap compared with other outlets, I doubt! And this Big Bazaar has to go a long way in getting the goodwill of the customers.