HEADLINES:  

ABIDS ROAD – HYDERABAD

Abids is one of the oldest commercial and shopping hubs of Hyderabad situated in the heart of the city. Abids is very popular among the natives of Hyderabad for it is supposed to be one of the oldest and most famous business area in the city of Hyderabad.

The rate of growth of the commercial area of Abids shows an upward trend especially towards the last few years, thereby giving it the feel of the highly spirited area of Hyderabad. Abids gets its name from the valet of the Nizam IV of Hyderabad, Albert Abid who during his period had a small shop in this area.

Soon this area came to be referred as Abid shops which then slowly got the transit of Abids in an eventual period of time. Most of the main shopping areas and market places are situated in and around Abids where its main road runs exactly through the middle of the town. Some of the remarkable places of attention in Abids are the Brand Factory, the Hollywood, BSNL, the popular Jagdish market, Taj Mahal hotel and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.

Abids also houses the headquarters of the General Post Office. The connectivity to Abids from rest of the Hyderabad city is extremely good. Apart from the shopping areas in Abids the other places of interests in this area includes Government Archaeological Museum and the Public Garden, posh hotels including Park hotel, Annapurna hotel and Jaya International, renowned schools and colleges like St. Joseph's College, Nizam College and Telugu University and several restaurants, banks, hospitals and cinema halls. Another notable feature of Abids market is that unlike other markets which concentrates or specializes in a certain trade this place is a hub for a wide variety of business and shopping.

Also the proximity of the Abids market to Nampally Railway Station helps the market to be always crowded by people who come from different parts of the city to do shopping and to do business. Abids is considered as one of the most renowned shopping market in Hyderabad. Abids has number of shops dealing with products of both local and international brands. There are huge stores and showrooms which exhibit a wide range of shopping items including jewelry, leather, textiles and handicrafts.

Abids is one area in Hyderabad which is always busy, where the weekdays are less crowded whereas during weekends the entire Abids area is extremely congested. Other major commercial shops for textiles/clothing, hotels, jewellery, footwear stores and electronics are all situated in the Abids road. The headquarters of BSNL which is the largest telecommunications provider of the city of Hyderabad is situated in Abids. The famous Jagdish market, which is well known due to the many custom-notified shops that existed in the area, and is now a bustling grey market for mobiles and electronics, is also located here.

Other Establishments in Abids:

Apart from the commercial establishments in Abids other places of importance are the Hanuman temple and the ISKCON temple which are more of Hyderabad's heritage sites which are also situated in Abids. This is also another reason why this place brings in more of crowd, who ever come to the temples here make it a point to takes a stroll round the Abids road and get tempted to do shopping. Abids is not only visited by the natives of Hyderabad but also people from different parts of the country and also foreigners who come here to visit the nearby heritages spots barge into the shopping area of Abids.

Some of the oldest renowned schools of Hyderabad fall within the limits of Abids and they are Stanley Girls High School, Methodist School, St. George's Grammar School, Little Flower High School, St. John's Grammar school, Rosary Convent High School, All Saints High School, Seventh-Day Adventist High School, etc. Abids being one of the most famous commercial hubs of the city it houses a number of hotels, restaurants and Government departments.

Meena Bazaar is the Name of a Store in Abids

There are innumerable huge stores and small shops which cater to all class of people from jewellery to clothes to traditional handcrafted items. Meena bazaar is the name of a store in Abids which is very popular among the whole city for it sells excellent traditional Indian wear. Meena bazaar also sells other modern trendy collections of Western wear but still it mainly attracts the natives of Hyderabad for its exclusive traditional ethnic wear. People from different parts of the city come to Abids road for purchasing computers, printers, mobiles, laptops and its batteries, hard disk, RAM, motherboard, CPU, computer scanners adaptors, mobile sim card, digital cameras, pen drives, printer cartridges and associated peripheral devices.

All these electronic items and its related gadgets are available in the Jagdish market. Apart from the Jagdish market the other places in Abids which sell such items are Big Bazaar, Pegasus Mall and the Brand Factory, among others. The products sold here carry a good reputation and the shelf life of most of the equipments sold in Jagdish market is highly superior with having been made greater in size or value of the productivity. All the goods sold here are priced reasonably and the brands sold in this market are very genuine. No fixed price is there because most of the things are bought by bargaining.

Abids Also Houses Some of the Other Notable Shops:

Abids also houses some of the other notable shops and commercial establishments of the city which includes Hollywood Footwear, G. Pulla Reddy Sweets, Taj Mahal Hotel, Palace Heights Restaurant, YOUDAN Computers, John's Bakery, Cherma's, Grand Restaurant and Lodging, Metro Footwear, Bulchand Jewellers, F.D. Khan Textiles, Meena Bazaar, Bata Footwear, A.A. Hussain & Co., Abdul Razzack & Sons Pharmacy, Nizamia, Aziz Company, Hindustan Leathers and Hina Pen and Stationary Store. Abids road houses the corporate offices of different companies like airlines and banks and much more places of interest of shopping.

Abids road is one of the most recommended shopping places in the state capital of Andhra Pradesh which has a number of branded showrooms and also luxurious malls all in a very close proximity. Some of the high class fabric market is situated in Abids road. There are lot of shops which deal with jewelry, books, Indian handcraft items and electronic products. Apart from these there are coffee shops, restaurants, hotels and multiplexers. The ideal time to visit this place is in the evening. Due to the proximity of number of schools in close vicinity to Abids road this place is always seen crowded with lot of college and school students who throng the shops at Abids.

Stores Which Sell Exclusive Ethnic Jewellery:

Shoppers come here mainly to shop from the stores which sell exclusive ethnic jewellery and colorful bangles and attractive items which mainly pulls the females especially the young girls. All kinds of electronic goods both branded and the local items are also easily available in this market. The first shopping mall of the city namely the MPM mall is located in Abids which attracts a major crowd. There are lots of both small and big commercial complexes situated on Tilak Road in Abids. These complexes are best places to shop for saris, leather goods, jewelry and other special souvenirs which are bought for friends and family members especially for the loved ones. The Mubarak Bazaar in Abids is the ideal place to shop for women clothing, accessories, foot wears and custom tailoring.

Abids road is a shopping hub where one can shop depending upon his/her pocket size right from shops in the pavement where street vendors sell their items. If one is good at bargaining then it is promising to get a good collection of knick knacks. Apart from this for those who are with heavy pockets they can shop at expensive stores like international branded footwear stores to boutiques for specialized high end products. Before we decide to go ahead with buying of a product it is good to go around shops and check the rates for the same product which we decide to buy at a store may cost us Rs.2000 whereas the same item in a street stall may be sold for Rs.200, but of course there will be slight compromise in the quality of the product.

Bargaining is one of the major techniques which has to be followed at every shop in Abids road street bazaars. We should keep it as a rule to end up paying only half the rate or even less than of what is quoted by the seller. Abids road is very easily connected to Ghatkesar, Koti, Nampally, Dilsukhnagar and other areas of the city by the state run transport buses and other public transports like autos and taxis. The Abid Road is an arterial road of the city, connecting parts of the old city to the new and also to Hyderabad's twin city - Secunderabad via Tank Bund Road.

The Nampally railway station is the closest station to Abids which is situated at distance of 1 km away from Abids road. After a long day of shopping at Abids we will be happy to know that there are lot of eating joints and restaurants in and around the shopping area. Some of the most favorite eating joints of the natives of the city are Cafe Capri, Shtam Lodging, and Mischief Dining Bar.