It also says that when the Lord wanted to create this world, the first word he uttered was ‘Akshaya’ which means unlimited.
The pulse of this day is being felt now in Chennai with hoardings all over the city, announcing special offers and people thronging jewellery shops. With the atmosphere in the air being charged with celebration and joy, I walked into the new showroom of G R Thanga Maligai (GRT) on Coats Road, the grand old jewellery shop at Usman Road, T Nagar. I met G R Ananthapadmanabhan, one of the Managing Directors of GRT as they were preparing themselves and gearing up to cope with the growing demands of people on this important day.
Ananthapadmanabhan explained “GRT jewellery shop was started by my father, G Rajendran in the year 1964. My younger brother G R Radhakrishnan and I joined him in the business in the early 1990’s. Our sustenance as market leaders in the industry for over these 4 decades can be attributed to our strengths. We are extremely quality conscious and we focus on our service to each and every customer. Our employees are meticulously trained to greet customers with a genuine smile and ensure that they have a very satisfactory experience while shopping for jewellery. We assign prime importance to designs and keep updating them. We have exclusive designers to cater to changing trends and we have one of the best custom made order departments. We outsource jewellery from several parts of the world so that jewels are enjoyed in their original taste and finish. We have a separate department for temples. In a nut shell, we have a complete 360 degree collection of silver, gold, diamonds, precious stones and platinum.”
GRT has to its credit several awards and recognitions. They have been adjudged officially by the Government as the ‘Number one in South India for hallmarking largest numbers of pieces of 916 quality’, they are the largest platinum retailer in India for the last 3-4 years and the only showroom for diamonds in India to have got ‘The Diamond Showroom’ award 3 times in a row.
Ananthapadmanbhan described it as an honour to serve three generations of their customers and the challenge lay in satisfying them when they walked in together to shop for jewels, especially for occasions like weddings. Speaking on behalf of his father and brother he said they all loved their work and doing this business gave them a lot of joy and satisfaction. He gave credit to the entire team of over 900 employees for the phenomenal success of GRT.
Plans of expansion and branching out to other parts of our country are on the cards for this jewellery giant who have worked relentlessly to earn the good will they are enjoying. GRT has carved a niche for itself in the jewellery market and a place in the hearts of their customers who would vouch their loyalty to them. GRT is old in the trade of gold and the established brand name of GRT is a testimony to ‘Old is Gold’.
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