Entrepreneurs, Municipal authorities & the Public

Whilst developing new ideas for petty trade activities, we need to know why the prevalent conditions are unsuitable and for whom. According to the entrepreneur, there is some uncertainity in the business activity due to the lack of permanence of shelter. When there is sudden rain, some part of the activity must be stalled until such time that sunshine returns. Most of the petty traders who operate from a baddi, use it mostly as a store, for example, a cycle-repair shop or a mechanic uses the stall / baddi space to store his tools, tyres, etc.

Almost always, the business activity stretches beyond the stall onto the open space available just outside. Either a wooden counter or table is pulled out every morning when the shop opens or a raised platform in concrete exists that serves as an extension to the stall. So, the space requirement for the business activity is very flexible and always more than 6’-0”x 6’-0”. This outdoor space may also include a waiting area for the customers which may consist of a rickety wooden bench put out onto the footpath itself.

Some of the already existing baddies serve also as residences. The few belongings of the individual or family are stored inside the baddi and his workplace and sleeping quarters have the sky for roof. So, as far as the petty trader is concerned, there can be no better option than his present baddi and its outdoor extension, because it is sure value for money. He gets space free of cost outside of his 6’-0” x 6’-0” stall. In terms of facilities, the petty trader may want a toilet in the vicinity and also water supply, especially if he owns a snack or a juice stall. He, therefore needs a planned bazaar only if these facilities are provided and also if he can be better sheltered from the weather.

As far as the municipal authorities are concerned, random growth of small businesses can create unhygienic conditions for the public due to the lack of proper drainage facilities and thus increase the health problems of the city. The footpath is not anymore just a circulation space; it also becomes a business or commercial space.

From the point of view of the public, a planned bazaar will be more efficient to carry out shopping activities; more hygienic, at least partially sheltered and therefore shopping may be done with better protection from the harsh sun. It is possible that a new bazaar may be located further away from the buyer’s home than an existing baddi cluster. There is often a single baddi located at almost every street junction. It keeps in mind the walking distances to be covered from the buyer’s home. However, these street corner baddis are often only paan-shops stocking limited items. Other needs must be met with at shops which may be located further away. Usually, the informal growth of baddis is found to occur near a bus-stop or sometimes a temple.

It helps if the municipal authorities survey well the physical aspects of already existing petty trades such as spatial requirements, low-cost construction materials, and the unconventional servicing and infrastructural facilities in use. In the end, the designed space and shelter must be priced correctly, or else, the exercise tends to fail due to lack of interest from the petty traders in the new project.

Understanding the informal sector

In Visakhapatnam, petty trade flourishes at street corners, on the footpaths and on small pieces of Municipal Corporation of Visakhapatnam (MCV) lands that are unoccupied. The petty traders use tree cover or a baddi i.e. a kiosk for a shelter. They are increasing in number, causing congestion and occupation of lands that can be more suitably used. The Corporation felt the need to relocate these traders to alloted spaces. Initially, more than 15 sites were identified by MCV for a bazaar that provides spaces for petty trades.

It was necessary to perceive the problems faced by Petty traders in the city and those faced by the Municipal Corporation due to the existence of petty trade activities. The initial observations showed that Cost is a major factor in selection of the type of stalls that are seen at random locations all over the city. Twenty years ago, a baddi of size 6’-0” x 6’-0” could cost Rs.5,000. Today, the same baddi can cost upto Rs.20,000. Having stood the test of time, these baddis are probably the most appropriate and cost-effective solutions as shelters for business. The spontaneity of the entrepreneur and his family in creating a suitable work environment results in individualistic designs.

The infrastructural costs are kept low by occupying street junctions, footpaths and vacant lots, instead of purchasing regular shops. The hawker uses sometimes a bedsheet to spread out his wares, or a few wooden crates that make a small platform or a kiosk (these are made from wooden planks from used cargo crates for the walls and asbestos sheets for the roof). These baddis or kiosks do not require lengthy procedures for approval by the authorities. A shop constructed in brick and plaster with an RCC slab roof can be built and occupied only after submission of architectural plans to the Municipal Corporation. This can be time consuming and of course more expensive.

The design for the petty traders project took the form of a tree, a pergola and a barrel vault.

no "shop window"

There is no "shop window" anymore. In the old days, there were shop fronts that had mannequins that had to be dressed up every day or at least once a week.

Now, printing technology allows us to have a large screen in vinyl that has life-size pictures of men and women in just the clothes we aspire for. Lighting technology now allows this screen to have a special accent and to highlight that which must attract us, most hurried customers.


In Bombay, in the 80's, Benzer, the super store happened, at Warden road, which was by then, renamed Bhulabhai Desai road. It was the place to go to shop. There were no malls then. Benzer had a "shop window" It also had a small "landscaped" area at the entrance with sculptural blocks clad in granite stone.

There was an outside to the store and an inside. You stepped in to see what was possible, at what price. Today, in the mall, you often see the whole store from the outside. All the T-shirts racks, all the discounts being offered... It is like having a walk-in closet.

Spencer’s Plaza – the old mall in Chennai

Spencer’s Plaza has always been ‘the new within the old’ – a new building within the memory of an old one. Until Citi Centre opened to the public some months ago, Spencer’s Plaza was “The Mall” of Chennai. There is the atrium with the circular arcade in brick, constructed anew on the old design.

In the malls, the parking space is always your first experience. In the old days, you always walked to the bazaar. Today, you can still walk or take the car to the bazaar. Because it is almost a pedestrianised zone i.e. it is flooded to such an extent with pedestrians and hawkers, nobody takes a car in there. You park in the side lanes in and around the main bazaar streets. There is always a small street nearby which becomes a parking lot.

In Georgetown, you are in one street for clothes, in another for electronic goods. Here, at Spencers' the clothes and the electronics are a shop away from each other and the expensive eateries abound. The spaces are clean. You do not jostle in a crowd. The noise levels are different from the bazaar too. You cannot buy your fresh limesoda or your sugarcane juice here. But, there is the “Fruit shop on Greams Road” outlet which sells ‘Pineapple Mint’ for Rs.40 or the Orange Tangerine for Rs.30. Sugarcane juice in the Bazaar is Rs.3 for half glass and Rs.6 for full glass.

At Spencer’s, you come out of the parking basement into the brick-lined circular atrium, take an escalator up to the shops. It’s a centrally air-conditioned mall – the atrium, the passages, the shops. The maintenance costs are high and the goods always priced high. There are large chain stores like West Side and Music World housed here. There is “sweet corn” and “subway sandwiches”.

And as one of the storefront sign says you “Rediscover yourself”. A mall is just different from a bazaar…

Read about:

Citi Centre: the mall in Chennai

Miracle Boutique