Agra jewellers get common platform

Being primarily a Mughal-era city, Agra is known for its narrow alleys and bustling crowds and most of this town's busiest markets are located deep inside the heart of the old city, making them hard to access due to continuous traffic jams on the cobblestone streets.

Besides the spices and commodity business in the town, the jewellery trade, located in the narrow "Zohri Bazar" area of Agra, is most affected by being inaccessible to buyers.

To solve this problem and to bring the jewellery trade under one roof with basic amenities like central air conditioning, underground parking and communication facilities, conforming to the concept of modern markets, Ganpati Housing, an Agra-based construction company, launched its own jewellery mall "Ganpati Arcade" yesterday.

Inaugurated by DK Jain, Chief Justice, Patna High Court, this arcade is located in the vicinity of the Zohri Bazaar, making it easier for the jewellers to shift their businesses to the more spacious premises in the arcade.

Talking to Business Standard on this occasion, Anil Agarwal, Managing Director, Ganpati Housing said that though a large number of jewelers of Zohri Bazar had already shifted to the more open areas like Sanjay Place, over two hundred medium and small jewelers were still staying in that cramped market with absolutely no parking space for their clients and as a result, they were facing a significant shift of business to the jewelers in Sanjay Place.

He said that located close to Zohri Bazar but in a more open location with adequate underground parking space, the Ganpati Arcade had been designed specially to cater the needs of these jewelers who desperately wanted to shift but still remain close to the traditional Mughal era market.

He said that to be constructed in two years with the cost of approximately 10 crores in about 2000 square yards, Ganpati arcade had 114 shops distributed in three stories, all connected with modern lifts to facilitate the movement of customers between levels.

He said the location of the arcade was also best suited for both wholesale medicine business and garments, with these two businesses also concentrated in the same area, being close to Sarojini Naidu Medical College.

He said most of the shops in the arcade had been booked at the day of the project launch and hopefully, by the time the construction of this "new market in old bazaar" was completed, the arcade shall be completely sold out.