Business memoir: Shoppers Stop’s first general manager recounts the day the store opened in 1991

The bright idea of our store’s name came to us quite unexpectedly. I had teamed up with Contract, a well-known advertising agency, to find the perfect name. Over the course of a few weeks, they suggested many names, but for some reason or the other none of them felt right to me or the Rahejas. One day, after an arduous session of brainstorming (but failing to come up with any good name for our store) I called Mr Raheja and said, “Sir, if we don’t decide on a name by tomorrow or the day after, we will not be able to launch the store before Diwali.” The night after our conversation, Mr Raheja called me, saying, “My wife is in Boston standing in front of a supermarket called ‘Stop and Shop’. Why don’t we think on similar lines?” After thinking hard for a few minutes, we zeroed in on Shoppers’ Stop.

Shoppers’ Stop. It was the perfect name. It did not limit the store to any specific gender, product or category. It captured the idea that shopping at our store would be an enjoyable experience. Above all, it epitomised the retail revolution perfectly, proclaiming itself as a one-stop shop for all...

Read more