Sharing: THAILAND WEEK 2013 @ THE BOMBAY STORE

Thailand Week 2013 @ The Bombay Store

My friend Bharati sent me the facebook link of The Bombay Store with info about the Thailand Week 2013 that was being celebrated from August 22 to September 1, 2013. The shop was keen that bloggers cover the event. I decided to go on August 23 to their outlet at Fort. By the way, the Thai Fest is on at their Fort Branch, their branches at Inorbit Mall - Vashi and Malad.

A display of Ganeshas near the entrance to the store

While I have been to The Bombay Store at Phoenix Mills, this was my first visit to the Fort one. The shop is huge, especially considering that it is in such a prime area. They have a variety of art and craft and the main theme near the entrance was Lord Ganesha as Ganesh Chaturthi is fast approaching.

Showcase with colourful Thai umbrellas

When I started taking pictures, one of the attendants told me that it was not allowed. I told him that I wanted to write about the Thai Fest and required pictures for the same. He told me that the fest was further down and I could take pictures there.

Thai lanterns as you enter The Bombay Store

I walked in and came upon this Thai woman and man who were working on some craft. There was no demo as such. They were talking to themselves and working on some umbrellas, flowers and there were a few miniature facemasks that were displayed on a stand. I hung around wondering if someone was going to demonstrate their work, but nothing materialised.

Flowers made Thai style

I went in further to check out some ceramic and glass dinner sets and the like that were from Thailand. Nothing unique there! They could have been from any part of the world, maybe even India.

I walked around the store checking out the other wares on sale. I was interested in the cloth bags. But the pricing was crazy. There’s no other way to put it. I have seen similar bags selling for half the price at good shopping outlets and I don’t mean the vendors on the streets. The Bombay Store obviously caters to high-end clients from SoBo and foreigners, of course. I thought it would be stupid to spend hard-earned money on their products.

Bags galore! All horrendously priced

There was a variety, of course. There were mounted pictures of old Bombay scenes, statuettes in clay and bronze, incense sticks, aromatic candles, bags of different types, mugs, glasses, lamp-shades, jewellery, hand-made stationery and the like. It was a feast for the eyes, definitely.

There was this theme bag that I liked. It depicted couples from different states of India with a greeting in the local tongue. There were bags representing Maharashtrians, Punjabis, Gujaratis and more. I searched a bit and came upon one from Tamil Nadu. The cartoon of the couple was nice. But to my horror, the word on it was ‘VADAKKAM’ instead of ‘VANAKKAM’ meaning ‘Namaste’ in Tamil. How dumb could that be!

Checking out the prices on the incense sticks and candles, I decided that even they were priced too high (by at least 50%) and left the shop without buying anything.