The Beautiful Good Earth

My recent trip to Mumbai was wondrous where the senses were heightened at every step. From the children on the street selling fresh jasmine bracelets, the mass recycling industry at Dharavi, the middle class Indians wearing Western clothes through to the Expat world of my sister-in-law living in Imperial Towers near to Ambani’s $1 billion residence.

I was fascinated to see how much Mumbai has changed in the six years since my last visit. This time I saw mass market shopping malls with Western high street retailers such as M&S, H&M, Zara…and other high end malls with every luxury brand under the sun…Gucci, Prada, Rolex. I couldn’t quite believe it. Half of me felt happy for the country in terms of development and the other half felt very sad that one day every shopping street in the world is going to look exactly the same.

One of the highlights of my trip was being introduced to an authentic, luxury retailer called ‘Good Earth‘ Stylish, Sustainable Luxury Retail…now we are talking! I have since found out there are twelve Good Earth Stores in India all completely different in design and each year they have a new theme to keep regular customers inspired. The one I visited was at the Raghuvanshi Mills Compound hidden in a huge industrial warehouse down a series of alley ways.

This is my idea of a totally brilliant and beautiful holistic retail experience. Magnificent hand crafted homeware products, fine bone china in hand painted gold and clothing in the most exquisite surroundings. As well as the gorgeous product the space had lots of areas to discover and explore.

On entering there is a huge welcoming area that sets the scene before you step inside the shop on the ground floor. At the bottom of the large staircase there is a delightful book shop and a tasty chocolate shop. As you climb the stairs to the enormous first floor there are clothes, accessories and the ultimate of restaurants. A truly inspiring retail experience – the kind of place I could stay for hours..!