Size does matter

In my book, WrapAround, I had written about a chain of music stores in India called Planet M - then advertised as the music store of the universe. This was two years ago, and since then, the stores have changed hands, and I have acquired those large USB HDDs with 600GB storage - so I didn't go out buying cds and dvds for a couple of years.

Then I got an email saying that Planet M in CST in South Mumbai was shifting home - and I really really had to go to see the new home. I used to love the old place - situated as it was in the ground floor or one of the heritage buildings of Mumbai, acres of space, lots and lots of goodies where you could fill up the vacant spaces of your cd library (talk of the long tail!) and, this is a rarity in most Indian stores, attendants who actually listened to music and knew something about it.

The new home is a disaster - like the Queen of England has moved to a studio flat in Croydon. Enter the shop, and on your left is a dozen mobile handsets for sale; anon a few ipods, and in between about a hundred cds and mayhap a couple of dozen dvds. My personal cd and dvd collection is larger by far than the stock in the racks - I need say no more.

So, AFAIAC, I won't disturb the Queen in her new studio flat any more.

Before the large chains came in, didn't small shops survive, and indeed thrive? Don't they do so even now in many parts of the world? They do, because they go for depth and not for width, and because their staff/owner really know their subject. So if you go to a small shop which specialises in crime fiction, the owner/manager/staff is a fan himself of herself, has read through the genre, and a visit turns into a lovefest, with the result that you stagger out of the shop with another couple of dozen books, and a thinner wallet.

However, if you have a brand established as a large format chain, then rejigging yourself to a small mom&pop corner store is death.

Early days, though. I have been to just one store, albeit the erstwhile flagship store. I need to visit the other stores to check out on a larger sample base. Will report back, but right now, I am really disappointed to see the Queen in a 3BHK flat with all mod cons one among a whole bunch of row houses, all exactly alike.