One might not have seen a huge crowd today on the inauguration of Upkar Departmental Store, branch of a well-known decades old kirana shop Upkar located at Hathipol, but the strong bond between their hundreds of loyal customers is far more reliable than that of any other similar or large shopping place in the city.

The Upkar Store inaugurated today is a mini departmental store located near UIT Bridge. It will offer a wide variety and a comparatively large number of products than that offered at the kirana shop.

The family run business started 60 years ago from a small unnamed kirana shop at chandpol’s Choubiso ka Muhalla which was ransacked in the riots.

Thereafter, three brothers Akbar Ali, Ahmed Ali and Saifuddin Kanorwala moved to hathipol area for the next few years and then shifted to the present location opposite Tonga-Stand where Upkar was incepted in 1972.

Since then, the Kanorwala family has flourished and multiplied the business from kirana to food products. However, after the family business split, Mulla Abbas Bhai Kanorwala with his brother Shabbir Bhai focused on retailing.

Speaking about The Upkar Store, Qaid Zohar Kanorwala, son of Abbas Bhai said, “The Upkar Store is going to give a comfort zone to our customers with 100 percent more product ranges available in the store in comparison to our old shop at Hathipol.”

“Besides regular food products like grains, species, dry fruits, packed food etc, the store will also offer milk products, syrups and cold beverages etc”, said Qaid.

When asked their take on upcoming chains of departmental stores in Udaipur, Qaid says, “We don’t see any competition with big brands, we are a small local business and we have a tradition to serve our customer. We have confidence in our personal bonding with each and every customer for last so many years.”

Adding further Qaid said, “When we talk about customer service, owners of big brands cannot directly communicate with their customer but we are pretty lucky on this part. We are directly communicating and taking feedback of our product and services which help us to develop.”

Qaid believe that Upkar is definitely far more known to people of Udaipur than the latest stores opening in malls of Udaipur just because of their bonding and offering best quality products since several decades.