About Us

New Mahalakshmi Stores

The inhabitant Indian culture of wearing saris can be dated back to the early Chola Dynasty. It gave birth to a trend of wearing saris in the Indian subcontinent which evolved a community who had their primary trade as weaving saris and selling them. This with time became their sole produce and gave a new rise to it as a potential business. People then started recognizing it and joined the existing weavers and some having knowledge of weaving started their own plant.
We are here, looking at one such person belonging to the weaving community whose initiative has now
emerged to be a leading retail business.

1915

Mr. Madari Subbarayan Chettiar, in the year 1915, started a small weaving plant at home in Kanchipuram, Tamilnadu. He with the help of a few associates made the traditional silk saris and sold it in and around his town. He got a good response from his neighbourhood and people outside. The number of Manufacturer’s being very less at that period of time, the manufacturer’s found it to be a good business.

1920

This business started to expand into other area’s. They saw a good boost in their business. In the year 1920 Mr. Madari Subbarayan Chettiar with his associate opened a small shop in Mylapore, Chennai. The shop performed well. More and more people started to visit them and were pleased with their products. He not only had customers from Tamilnadu but people outside India who went for work and business from India. Indians who stayed in place’s like Burma, Malaysia, Singapore etc also came to him for their clothing needs. With time Mr. Madari Subbarayan Chettiar started to travel to places outside India to increase his business. He along with his associates carried loads of boxes filled with sarees. More people bought sarees from him in places outside India as well and Mr. Chettiar’s number of happy customer’s kept going up.

1930

It was in the early 1930’s. People were worried all over as the global atmosphere was getting tense in the wake of a World War. World War II had started. Mr. Chettiar had already in Burma performing his business tasks. The atmosphere was had got quite panicking as India was dragged into the War. Mr.Chettiar thought, it would only be good to return back home at the earliest safely. Mr. Sadasivam Chettiar, Mr. Subbarayan Chettiar’s son and family were worriedly expecting their return home to safety. They could not get any mode of transportation by which they could reach Madras. Fortunately they found and boarded a ship bound for India it was destined to reach Mumbai. So they decided to reach Bombay first and then find their way to Chennai. Unfortunate due to the situation they had to get a lot of their products back unsold. They were unable to head to Madras from Bombay as Bombay was the main centre of the British and their safety was at risk if they travelled. They found a safety shelter in Matunga to stay until the atmosphere becomes safer to travel. Days were just passing by with worries everywhere.

1934

Mr. Chettiar found some luck with the people in Bombay too as people got interested on seeing his products. He was able to sell a lot of the products which he had brought back unsold. They also put up a stall in Matunga for the purpose. Matunga had a lot of people from the Southern states and that helped him to create a good and beneficial environment. Matunga was once known as small Madras. It was about a month’s time since Mr.Chettiar and his colleagues reached Bombay. They somehow managed to find a safe way to return to Madras and reached home. Once back home they all felt at peace. He was thinking about his business and felt good about his experience in Bombay. He kept coming back to Bombay every once in a while and sold his products as the demand kept increasing. He decided that he should build a stronghold in Bombay so that he could keep serving his customers with his esteemed products. In the year 1934 a builder constructed a residential cum commercial building in Matunga, named Bhiwandiwala Building where Mr. Subbarayan Chettiar bought a shop. This is the shop where generations of customers are coming back again and again to fulfill their saree needs. Be it for any occasion people come here to buy sarees.

1970

His son Mr. Sadasivam Chettiar took care of the business in Madras and his father Mr. Madari Subbarayan Chettiar was improving the business in Bombay. Time passed by and development was essential. The business was now headed by Mr. S.S.Krishnamoorthy, the Grandson of Mr. Subbarayan Chettiar. During the late 1970’s they decided to move from Mylapore to a bigger and better place in Thyagaraya Nagar (T.Nagar). They started a bigger shop to cater to more customers.

1982-1995

The business then passed on to the next generation. In the year 1982 Mr. K. Palani, son of Mr. S.S.Krishnamoorthy joined the business and started handling the business in Mumbai. In the year 1995 Mr. K. Senthilraj the younger son of Mr. S.S. Krishnamurthy joined the business. The business in now being taken forward by the 5th generation of the family.

1998

There was only scope for improvement. In the year 1998 , they started putting up an exhibition cum sale for Diwali to expand the business and to be able to make more customers happy. The place where this practice was started is Ahobila Mutt hall in Chembur, Mumbai. Till date people across all sections of the society enquire about the shop and come to buy sarees at New Mahalakshmi Stores.