The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Where shoppers can hop from stall to stall on a buying spree

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Friday, Jul 31, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Where shoppers can hop from stall to stall on a buying spree

Special Correspondent

The Hindu Retail Plus Shopping Festival begins

— Photo: R. Shivaji Rao

The show begins: Actor Prasanna at the launch of the exhibition in Chennai Trade Centre on Thursday.

CHENNAI: There is something for every shopper segment at The Hindu Retail Plus Shopping Festival that got under way on Thursday at the Chennai Trade Centre, Nandambakkam.

If you are the couch potato-type, there is a device that primes up the body as you lie supine, while for those who prefer the long haul to fitness, there is an array of foldable treadmill machines, starting with a base price of Rs.21,900 and going up to over Rs.1 lakh.

A total of 153 participants are showcasing merchandise at the four-day show. Viveks, the title sponsor, has brought in about 50 top-notch consumer brands to the show.

Radio One is the radio partner, Doohm is electronic media partner, and IAds and Events the event partner.

“Achchamundu Achchamundu” star Prasanna was on the dot to launch the event. Sporting jeans, tee and a white scarf, “which is the in-thing these days and part of my attire,” the actor would have curbed his shopping instincts as his new home in Virugambakkam has recently been fully done up.

“I am no big-time shopping freak. But, I wish that one day I will be able to walk into any high-end store and splurge without glancing at the price-tags,” said Prasanna, whose next film “Nanayam” is due for release by August-September. Discounts ranging from 10 per cent to 50 per cent are on offer for various brands across categories such as furniture, bathroom and kitchen fitting, arts and handicrafts, beauty and health, fashion, textiles and jewellery, computer and IT products, insurance and banking, and resorts and clubs.

Consumer electronics is a major draw here with all majors displaying their diverse portfolios. “LED television sets are the next big thing after the LCD wave”, a salesman said. The base LCD versions start around Rs.17,000 while the LED set costs about Rs.1.32 lakh.

Casual visitors too can find something interesting to indulge in light shopping. For instance, a stall is offering activity books, pictorial representation of common errors and the popular sentence maker. One of the popular books is on “Handling Behaviour Problems in Young Children” that helps parents cope with child woes ranging from bed wetting and shyness to meal-time problems and temper tantrums.

Entry fee is Rs.40 and entry is free for women for the first two days. The shopping fest is open from 10.30 a.m. to 10.30 p.m. till August 3.

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