Crowds throng fruit store in Bengaluru
The Hindu
Dry fruits merchant shares with customers discount he got from Saudi Arabian exporter
Over the last fortnight, hundreds of people have been vying for a date with Mohammed Idrees Choudhury, a well-known dry fruits merchant from Russell Market. Mr. Choudhury’s shop, Delicious, which was established in the 1920s, has always been a popular haunt, but this surge in patronage is unusual at a time when most people are avoiding crowded markets. The reason? He is offering huge discounts on three coveted and expensive varieties of dates — Ajwa, Sufri (Safri) and Kalmi — imported from Saudi Arabia.
These varieties usually retail anywhere between ₹750 and ₹1,400 a kilo, but Mr. Choudhury is selling them for ₹900 for 3 kg, which works out to ₹300 a kg. He claimed that his Saudi Arabian exporter, whom he has been trading with for over a decade, offered him, and another trader from Indonesia, huge discounts due to the bumper crop.