HEADLINES:  

MG ROAD-COCHIN

MG Road named after the Father of Nation, Mahatma Gandhi is popularly known as 70 Feet Road. MG Road is the most popular and urbanized road in the city of Cochin. MG Road has a wide display of shops including textile shops, restaurants, jewellery shops and shops selling stuff ranging from household items to electronic goods. MG Road is known as the shopper's paradise of Kerala.

The real estate value of MG Road in Cochin is extremely high. Though MG Road is also known for its 70 feet width but still it is supposed to be one of the most congested roads in the city of Cochin with a heavy traffic at any part of the day.

The traffic is extremely high on MG Road due to the fact of growing commercialization over the years. The MG Road extends to about four kilometers branching off from Banerji Road in its north end right up to Thevara Junction down south. Dating back to the history of MG Road there were a number of institutions which belonged to the Kingdom of Cochin in the city of Ernakulam in spite of the British rule in this part of the Ernakulum city. The Chitoor road was one of the oldest arterial roads in the city which was built by the Rajas of Cochin. This road was connecting the South Railway Station to Chittoor Temple in Pachalam. But however this road was not connecting the southern side of the city with Fort Cochin. So British felt the requirement of another road to connect with the Southern side of the city.

In the year 1920, Sir Robert Bristow- the Chief Engineer who conceived the new port of Kochi, announced his plans to create a new island from the sea between Ernakulam Mainland and Fort Kochi island and transfer the existing port to the new island. He was able to visualize the need of another new road for transferring things and for cargo purposes between the mainland and new port island.

Thus a blueprint was prepared in 1923 and all plans were made and finally the construction of the road was started. Since the proposal was for a seventy feet road it was called as seventy feet road and was open to the public in 1925.The road connected the newly form port island- Willingdon through a bridge and merged with Chitoor Road near Kacheripady where the Central City offices of British Residency were located.

Most Popular Malls are of Major Attraction

This MG road played a major role in the history of Cochin and now it is one of the most important commercial places in the city fully urbanized and in the year 1972, the 70 feet road was renamed as Mahatma Gandhi road. Most of the best landmarks of the city of Cochin are situated on the MG Road. MG Road is today the CBD of Cochin which houses the leading top retail outlets, branded shops and corporate offices dotting on both sides of the MG Road. MG Road and Marine drive are the main shopping avenues in the city of Cochin where both the places boast of major shopping complexes and malls. Some of the most popular malls which is of major attraction for the natives of Cochin are Nucleus, Oberon and Bay Pride malls which reflect the cosmopolitan culture of the city and of course the people.

The MG Road is also quite famous for number of eating joints and restaurants with Cochin specialties sea food like fried fish, Varatharacha Kozhi curry, Alleppey fish curry and much more. The MG road is always bustling with crowd both during the day and night time. MG Road being one of the main commercial and shopping hubs of the Cochin city has innumerable shops dealing with apparels, handicrafts, cosmetics, household accessories, etc. If we are very particular about brands then the ideal place to shop is MG Road which deals with almost all the national and international brands like Louise Philippe, Allen Solly, Arrow, Bennetton and much more. This is also a place for women too where there are a number of jewelry shops and other accessories which are sold on small shops.

MG Road is the High End Commercial Street:

MG Road is the high end commercial street in Cochin with shops dealing with all the latest brands. The most important corporate house located in this stretch is Cochin Shipyard, one of the largest shipyards in India, located near Habour side. Being flanked by hotels and upscale stores on one side, M.G. road also houses swanky corporate office buildings and many other national and international banks like State Bank of India, State Bank of Travancore, ICICI Bank, Vijaya Bank, Dena Bank, Punjab National Bank, Standard Chartered, Citi Bank, HSBC, Oman Bank, etc. have their branches on MG Road. There are lots of other shops including crockery, book shop, sweets, and movie theatres dating to several decades which are also seen in MG road.

The world famous jewelry shops like Alapatt Heritage, Alappat Fashion jeweler, Alappat Arcade, House of Alappat, Francis Alukkas, Kalyan Jewelers, Bhima, Malabar Gold, Tanishq, Geeri pai, Thribhuvandas Bhimji Zaveri, Vanitha, Parakatt jewellers and Paul Alukkas are all located on MG Road. Most of these gold shops contribute to about 7 percent of gold sales in the country. There are exclusive shops for furniture at MG Road where people come from different parts of the city to purchase. There are branded furniture shops too. At MG Road we can buy coir mats, coir products and screw pine mats. MG Road also houses number of handicraft shops which deal with wood, shell, brass and ivory.

International Brands are found here:

The Kairali Handicraft Emporium, Kathias near Jos Junction and Khadi Bhavan is also situated in MG Road. There is an excellent collection of Khadi products like khadi cotton, khadi silk and kolhapuri chappals at Khadi bhavan. Some of the most famous International brands like Van Heusen, Arrow, Lee, Bennetton, Allen Solly, Louis Philippe and Indian brand Park Avenue have their showrooms on MG Road. Apart from these shops for men's ready-mades there are also suit material shops like Raymonds and Only Vimal. At Hotel Abad Plaza there is a specific shop for casuals which are available at a much cheaper price. There are lot of family shops for textiles and ready-mades like saris, salwars, etc.

MG Road is Also Known for Branded Foot Wear Shops:

The family shops are Seematti, at the northern end, Jayalakshmi and Parthas near Jos Junction on the MG road. MG Road has number of jewelry shops which have great collections for traditional, ethnic and modern jewellery. MG Road is also known for branded foot wear shops like Bata, Boots and Woodlands. Mesco in Jos junction is also an ideal place to buy shoes. Convent Road, branching westwards from the MG road, has a growing number of exclusive boutiques and outlets for the trendy and brand-conscious. The Esplanade building in the convent junction has showrooms selling ready to wear International brands. Besides the shopping malls, MG road has a number of hotels and restaurants and Cinema halls for entertainment.

Access to the MG Road is Much Easier:

There are also few shops on the pavement on MG Road where the street hawkers sell accessories, foot wears, clutches and much more catering mainly to the college goers and the teenagers. Most of these things can be brought at a throw away price and bargaining is a must at such places. The shops on the MG Road work throughout the week and are effectively open from 11 in the morning to 9 in the evening. But the ideal time to visit the shops on MG Road is between 12 to 4 in the evening for there will be fewer crowd. Weekends especially on Saturdays and Sundays the shops on MG Road are extremely crowded. Access to the MG Road is much easier by any kind of local transport like buses, taxis and auto rickshaws.

Fashion Related Things and Accessories:

There are shops on MG Road which exclusively deal with designer wear. The specialty of MG Road is that it connects Marine drive at North to Thevara at south passing through 10 junctions. One among the ten junctions is the Woodlands junction where most of the top jewellery stores are located. People from different parts of the city come to MG Road for shopping because of the great choice available here. Apart from the shopping areas in MG Road there are number night clubs, bars and restaurants where people can have a relaxed week end or evenings. Evenings are lilted with gleaming and colorful lights. MG Road offers from top brands to low end brands both from the National and International markets which includes all kinds of fashion related things and accessories.

MG Road- Shoppers Paradise

There are number of shops for foot wears and bags made both from genuine leather and artificial leather which also includes bags and wallets. This place is quite interesting for women of all age groups especially when it comes to the accessories. Thus the shopping area at MG Road caters to the demand of everybody's need. One can buy a variety of designer clothes here as there are plenty of shops here on MG Road. Different varieties of Shoes, apparels, watches, bags and other fashion accessories are available easily on MG Road.