We stay in an apartment complex comprising 400 odd families 

And there is a 100sqft store that caters to our daily needs. Kapoor stores

Below the 100sqft display is storage, possibly 3-4X bigger. So it’s not that he doesn’t have merchandise. 

2 weeks back, a 1500sqft store opened. 

GM Mart

Stacked display

Air conditioned 

Scanner checkout counters 

The mega retail format in our world 

Kapoor stores was fucked. 

Or so we thought! 

And am sure Kapoor did too

Here is what he did

He realized that most parents drop their kids at the bus stop, between 6-7am. So we opened the store at 6am now 

GM Mart had operating hours – starting 8am 

Kapoor began to extend credit. Starting with fort nightly and going up to a month, based on retention and amount. 

GM Mart was not designed to give credit 

Kapoor began promoting his home delivery ferociously. Promising 15 min delivery. 

GM Mart was proud of its self help format. 

Kapoor started to give free eggs or bread on purchase of 500

GM Mart didn’t see why they should 

Place yourself in the shoes of Kapoor. And ask yourself – what would you have done? 

I love Kapoor stores. It had a choice to crib. To give up. To settle. 

And it didn’t. 

There is a little bit of Kapoor stores in all of us. 

And a lot of GM Marts around. 

Neither is destined to win. It’s a choice we make. 

A belief we hold within