A COMPARISON BETWEEN TRADITIONAL AND MODERN SHOPS AROUND GARIAHAT MARKET AREA OF KOLKATA

Market is an essential element in any human settlement. In a city region market is the main lifeline and the main reason behind the overall development of the region and its surroundings. A market again in itself holds a variety of aspects and intermingling of different kinds of people as the sociocultural patterns of the buyers, sellers and others coming into the market area throughout the day, is very different. In this paper the study area thus chosen is of the notable market area in the city of Kolkata known as the Gariahat Market. This market has a long drawn history. It was present here in the city of Kolkata since time immemorial. This market thus has a huge extent and likewise there are also a plenty of difference in the nature of life existing here. There is also a huge diversity in the types of people coming here. People from all classes and from a variety of background come here to shop for their daily needs and also for their pleasure. Thus this market area allows for the accomplishment of a number of things. The pattern of sellers is so much varied that one could hardly realize the difference between the product qualities. The occurrence of so many types of shopkeepers itself is evident enough for the mixing of all classes of people here. In the olden days there were occurrence of only proper shops, may that be small or big but in the current age the occurrence of shops has doubled in number and apart from normal shops the presence of hawkers along the footpaths has been a matter of concern for quite some years now and modern day shopping malls, which are acting like a symbol for the young generation, is increasing in number slowly here. Shoppers thus are getting an easy access to all types of commodities within a short range and thus it is automatically giving a boost to their standard of living. The main aim of this paper is to show a comparison between modern and traditional shops of this market area.