Morning produce
Vegetables and bananas come in with the Kodimatha and local supply, not from a distant warehouse. If cheera looks tired, it does not go on the table.
Our shop
A grocer between town and the paddy.
Kalathikkadavu is a kadavu — a landing. The highway from Kollam towards Theni crosses water here at the Kottayam town border with Kollad. Homely Mart is the shop you reach before the bridge, when the scooters slow and the banana plants start again.
The idea
Medium on purpose.
Kottayam already has hypermarkets in town and tiny kadas on every corner. Homely Mart sits in the middle: wide enough for a week’s rice, oil, milk and cleaning, small enough that the person at the counter still asks whether you want Palakkadan matta or a softer grain.
We buy like a Central Travancore house cooks. Nendran for chips and payasam. Kappa for dinner. Coconut oil measured from the tin. Cheera and drumstick that still look like they left a homestead that morning. Packaged brands sit beside the things a Malayali kitchen cannot skip.
വീട്ടിലെ രുചി, പലചരക്കുകടയുടെ സൗകര്യം.
How we run the floor
Three promises that fit this road.
Honest packs
5 kg and 10 kg matta, loose oil by the litre, pickles in glass. We will tell you if the pepper is Idukki or a blend, and we will weigh in front of you.
The 686004 list
Onam sadhya, Christmas cake extras, Vishu kani fruit, a sudden houseful from Kumarakom — call the list through. We pack for Kollad, Moolavattom, Eerayil Kadavu and the wards next door.
Land of letters, latex and lakes
Kottayam eats well. We keep the cupboard ready.
Rubber country, backwater country, newspaper country. The shop is for the houses that still grind coconut for thoran, and for the flats off the highway that need milk at 8:40 PM. Same counter. Same coconut oil.
