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T NAGAR-CHENNAI

Thyagaraya Nagar popularly known as T.Nagar is situated in the city of Chennai, Tamilnadu, India. It was the Raja of Panagal who took the initial steps and with the help of the Madras Presidency government and keeping in guidelines the town planning activities of the Madras Town Planning Act started the construction of T.Nagar in the year 1923 and ended by 1925.

Panagal park a part of T.Nagar was named after the King of Panagal and T.Nagar got its name after Justice Party leader Sir P. Theagaraya Chetty. Similarly most of the streets and parks in and around T.Nagar are named after some different top officials in the provincial Government. T.Nagar is one of the major shopping destinations in Chennai in spite of housing lot of residential area within the limits.

Lot of surveys say that T. Nagar is rated as the biggest shopping district in India by revenue. It is very close to the Mambalam railway station which is a suburban railway network. T.Nagar is one area in Chennai which is always bustling with crowd. During weekends the crowd turning up to the market area in Pondy bazaar is easily about 500,000. Even on week days there are at least 200,000 pedestrians who stroll around T.Nagar. This area houses number of shops dealing with apparel, jewellery and utensils. There are also surveys conducted which states that shops in this neighborhood accounts for an income of nearly INR 200,000 million annually which is greater than any other shopping market in the country including that of Connaught place in Delhi and the Mumbai Linking Road bazaar.

There are number of jewelery shops in and around T.Nagar which accounts for 70 to 80 percent of the gold sold in Chennai. Usman Road is a very notable place in this area which is alleged to be the most expensive commercial stretch in Chennai. There are also high textile shops which mainly deal with silk saris and some of the very popular wardrobe shops include Nalli Chinnasamy Chetti, Naidu Hall, Pothys, The Chennai Silks, RmKV and Kumaran silks all of which have their huge stores in T.Nagar. Saravana Stores is one of the giant retail stores having both a wardrobe showroom and a utensils showroom in Thiyagaraya Nagar. There are also lot of small establishments on the pavements including petty shops which sell accessories, household, foot wear and garments at a throw away price.

One of the Busiest Shopping Area:

The T.Nagar stretch is about 6 kms long and is the great shopping hub for not only people of Chennai but even many outsiders from other parts of the country who come here exclusively to do their shopping. Access to T.Nagar is very easy for there are lots of city buses. T.Nagar has the bus terminus just off Usman road which operates through various commercial areas like Mylapore, Kodambakkam, Avadi, Nungambakkam, Parrys Corner, Ennore, Manali, Tambaram, Poonamallee, Thiruvanmiyur, Ambattur, Pattabiram, Annanagar and Tiruvallur. Being one of the busiest shopping area there are thousands and thousands of retailers flocking this area.

Shops Sell the Same Kind of Products:

Even a small availability of space there is lot of competition for shops. Business hoard at T.Nagar has increased the attraction of the site for buyers, thus increasing the business conducted. On the other hand the increase in the number of shops selling the same kind of product has led to more competition and choice, leaving the buyers with more negotiating ability. The municipal corporation of Chennai city has tied up with the real estate advisory firm Jones Lang LaSalle to work out a proposal and redevelop the area and make shopping there a more pleasant experience for the natives of Chennai and outsiders coming here mainly for shopping.

Parking is the biggest problem in this area and hence there are proposals for constructing multi-level parking lots and 'pedestrianisation' of the retail core area around Panagal Park, where about a million shoppers crowd during festivals and other busy periods. At the time of festival and wedding seasons people come in large crowd and flock the T.Nagar area rocking the entire bazaar. Though there are number of gleaming multi storey buildings, the road side shops in Pondy bazaar are of major attraction to the public especially to that of the middle class shoppers. T.Nagar not only attracts people from local areas but also has regular international visitors especially from countries like Singapore, Thailand or Malaysia.

Discount and Special Offers are a Part of Festival Season:

Discount and special offers are a part of festival season especially during Deepavali, Navrathri, Pongal, in almost all the shops in T. Nagar. T..Nagar is also extremely crowded during wedding season where most of the jewelery and textiles shops will be bustling with crowd. The birth of Nalli took place in T.Nagar and now it has rooted strong in different parts of other country too. This first store is what helped the firm grow to what it is today and venture into newer areas like jewellery. Nalli was the first showroom to be started in this area in 1928 after which many such establishments came up. Also the street vendors in Pondy bazaar turn out to do a good business for there is a group of people who mainly come here to buy the products sold in the pavements.

There are lots of small shops and street vendors who sell tiny little things like accessories, foot wears bags and wallets which are of great interest to the teenagers and college goers. Flower vendors also act as a major crowd puller. Panagal Park is home to many commercial establishments and department stores. There are innumerable shops which are concentrated on South Usman Road and Ranganathan Street in T.Nagar. There are six arterial roads radiating outwards from the Panagal Park all of which has both small and big commercial establishments.

They are:

North Usman Road which goes north towards Kodambakkam

G N Chetty Road which goes northeast towards Gemini Circle

Thyagaraja Road (known as Pondy bazaar ) which east towards Teynampet Signal

Venkatanarayana Road which goes southeast towards Nandanam Junction

South Usman Road which goes south towards Saidapet

Doraiswamy Road which goes west towards West Mambalam

Shops in T.Nagar have Accessories and Fashionable Clothes:

There are hundreds and hundreds of buildings which have mushroomed leading to a major congestion of the area but still the retailers find the business very profitable and continue to grow despite competition. SBP Pattabhi Rama Rao, president of Australian Foods India that runs the Cookieman stores said that T Nagar ranks among the busiest retail areas in the world and is comparable to the souks of Tehran and the Middle East. The shops in T.Nagar mainly caters to more of women's interest like apparels, kitchenware including crockery and cutleries. Thus the shops here offer a wide display of items. The shops in T.Nagar are a main market for accessories and fashionable clothes at all rates and for all class of people.

The shops in and around T.Nagar especially in Pondy bazaar extend to the sides of the road and the shopkeepers offer the customers everything such as home furnishing, fashionable clothing, bags, cosmetics, belts, sweaters, footwear, and other accessories. Every nook and corner of T.Nagar shopping area has to be explored for each and every shop has something interesting to offer the visitors. We may need at least one whole day to explore the market. So the right time to start is in the morning and spend the rest of the day in T.Nagar happily shopping. There are number of restaurants and short eats joints in and around T.Nagar. So in between the busy shopping one can refresh themselves by hogging in the nearby shops.

Ideal Time to Visit This Market is Between 12 to 4 in The Evening:

In Pondy bazaar apart from the roadside shops which sell trnkets there are also other big showrooms in this area which sell the genuine fresh branded clothes and foot wears. There is a wide choice of color, lengths, styles, cuts and patterns from which we have the option to choose. Some of the famous eating joints in this area are Murugan Idli shop, Hotel Saravan Bhavan, Hotel Junior Kuppana, Trichy's Banana leaf, D'cafe and much more. T.Nagar works throughout the week and is effectively open from 10 in the morning to 9 in the evening. But the ideal time to visit this market is between 12 to 4 in the evening for there will be fewer crowd.Weekends especially on Saturdays and Sundays the market is extremely crowded.

There is no requirement for the shoppers to keep looking for things for if one decides on shopping footwear they can go to that particular area where there will find more than enough shops for a variety of display of a specific product. Large group of shoppers, especially teenage girls and young ladies looking for a perfect pair of shoes, matching dupatta or even a quirky anklet amongst an array of outlets selling everything from corporate fashion to a cocktail ring are found here. T.Nagar is one of the most passionate shoppers area and the fashion compos mentis teens and college goers are almost and always get the feeling of being captured in the fascinating attention of readymade garments, accessories and trinkets which is sold in this area. T. Nagar is one of the must to be visited shopping area in Chennai.