Shop Talking Commercial culture

all roads lead to hyderabad - the commercial ventures seem to think so. flagship stores, one-of-a-kind shopping malls, sales of designer jewellery, diamonds, home ware, designer clothing, casuals and what have you, are making their way to the city. from being a sleepy little town not so long ago we have become 'the most happening city in the south.' just the line-up of designers who've had sales or retail tie-ups in the twin cities reads like the who's who of the couture world.the likes of meera and muzaffar ali, ritu kumar, malini ramani, manju and bobby grover, anju modi, sangeetha desai, wendell rodricks, manish arora, kiran uttam ghosh, payal singhal, krishna mehta and tarun tahiliani have been here and gone home grinning - wallets bursting at the seams. aninda mukharji, vice-president marketing, buddy davis says, between choosing from chennai, bangalore and hyderabad, our survey indicated that hyderabad is more happening in terms of trend following, and purchase of fashion garments. vinita suri, the pr consultant for frazer & haws says, according to our market survey, hyderabadis have a larger disposable income. and they spend more money on doing up their homes and interiors. shona adhikari, pr consultant for wills sport, lifestyle store, says, this (hyderabad) is the place to come to. malavika, a designer from delhi, who's been retailing with also, has brought her entire festive collection here, there's a greater designer label awareness in the city. sachin singh of levi's store agrees with that, one out of every three families in the city has somebody living abroad. so they know their brands. in fact, the response for buddy davis has been so fantastic that, just a month after their first store was inaugurated at the amrutha mall, they have a branch store in himayathnagar. nagesh kenam, area sales manager says, the first store got such a phenomenal response and now our second store is open as well. we always knew that hyderabad has a lot of potential and we've seen the brand and our leisure wear do well in other retail outlets over the last year. or take the live-in flagship store for instance, hyderabad is the second most happening place in the south. and people are very fashion conscious - so our brand, especially because our pricing is reasonable and our quality on par with the mncs, is doing very well. we will be opening 4 or 5 branches all over the city in the next few months. tribhovandas bhimji zaveri, the premier 160-year-old jeweller from mumbai, chose hyderabad for their first branch store in their expansion plans, we have a large number of hyderabadi clientele who frequent our store in mumbai, which is why we decided to come to the city. cinnamon, a unique designer home-ware store in bangalore, had a successful exhibition in the city recently. radhika poddar, the owner of the store is, very happy with the exhibition - our first in the city. we now know what kind of stuff the people like - the most unusual and beautiful designs moved fast. we will certainly come back and bring more of our own designs. says payal singhal, who also had a two-day sale of her clothes in the city, i got a very good response. people loved my stuff, in fact, i have tied up with three retail outlets - elahe, also and origins. and swarovski, lladro, rado, omega, oyzterbay, the largest shoppers' stop, the second lifestyle store in the country, wills sport, the home store, the largest music world, benetton, gaitonde, hidesign and provogue and any number of other stores. whatever you introduce to the city - we welcome you with open arms and more importantly good taste and the moolah.