Notes on the Geography of Northern India: Organized Retail in Delhi

Wal-Mart is still persona non grata in India, but organized retail is making huge inroads in Delhi.

Make default image size larger

An ancient column of an unknown order? No; as the wisp at the top suggests, it's the stack for a shopping center.

Here's the center proper, with no shortage of columns.

Another view. The building echoes some of the official buildings of British New Delhi, right down to the choice of color.

The interior, like malls across India, is full of international brands but not international retailers, still kept at bay.

Supermarkets are still generations behind the international standard, but here's one of the companies trying to expand rapidly. It's part of Mukesh Ambani's vast empire.

The interior, perhaps twice the size of an American convenience store.

Lots of packaged foods, many (perhaps most) of which would be unfamiliar to a shopper in the United States.

Lots of staff, which means quick service.

Elmer Fudd meets Athens.

The last word in Delhi malls, circa 2008.

Interior.