Shopping at Cochin - A completely forgettable experience

Yesterday, I went shopping at the Raymond showroom at MG Road. And true to the title of this blog entry, it was a forgettable experience. My mom tells me that shops down shutters post 7.30 here. This is completely in contrast to what I've observed in the last two cities I've lived in - Chennai and Bangalore. The closing times in those two times were 9 pm and 10 pm respectively. And the best part is, even if you enter the shop at 9 pm, the sales executives ensure that you have a pleasant shopping experience before you leave.

Now, back to Cochin, and the Raymond showroom.

I spent a good 5 minutes trying to locate the mens trousers section, after which another 15 minutes of hunting led to me picking up a trouser I liked. During this while, I had noticed a couple of sales executive stealing a glance in my direction, and even after me signaling to one of them, none of them walked up to assist me in my buy. Obviously, coming from a city with a shopping experience like Bangalore, I was pissed.

I caught up with one of the sales executives and ordered him to get the shop manager. A few minutes later, a nonchalant gentleman announced himself as the shop manager. I voiced my concern (read as complained to him), in a very aggressive manner, and it was only then that I got some sort of a customer service from one of the executives.

Honestly speaking, I was left wondering - If the service rendered to the customers was improved, people here might actually start enjoying shopping.


Thanks to this bashed experience, I for one am not going shopping at the Raymond store in a hurry. That much I am very certain!

If any of you guys (or gals) reading this blog know any other place where a guy can get good trousers, at good prices, AT COCHIN - Please drop me a comment with the direction to that place. I'll send you a beer (or chocolates if its a lady helping me out) as a token of my appreciation.
:)