How dukawallah family built top supermarket brand

The story of Chandarana Supermarkets embodies the stereotype of the Indian dukawallah in Kenya.

Shantilal Mulji Thakkar, the founder, opened his first grocery store at the Highridge Shopping Centre in Parklands in 1964. It was a different era for retail sales, a time when service was highly personalised, and so instead of browsing aisles and picking items off shelves — as is the practice today — Shantilal served his customers across the counter, handing them brown paper packets of grains, powders and spices.