Buying Sports Gear at Maidan Market

Umang Sharma

What initially began as a hawker rehabilitation plan gradually emerged to be the largest sports good market in the city. From jerseys, cricket kits, footballs, and hockey stick to badminton racquets, roller skates and even skipping ropes, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy Market more popularly known as the Maidan Market is undoubtedly the best one-stop market for buying sporting gear at the best bargain.

Location

Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy Market is situated at the heart of the city, just opposite Oberoi Grand Hotel on Chowringhee Road. Inaugurated in 1972 by former Chief Minister of West Bengal Siddhartha Shankar Roy, the market was set up to accommodate rehabilitated hawkers evicted from the Esplanade area.

Significantly, this market of sports goods stands close to all major sporting venues in the city including the various clubs on the Maidan, Eden Gardens, Netaji Indoor Stadium and Khudiram Anushilan Kendra.

The Market

While the exterior may look more like a rundown factory, once you enter the Maidan market, you would find a number of shops lined up with customers. According to Sheikh Nazimuddin of Raja Sports, the sports hub is more than 50-year-old. There are a total of 450 shops in this market, out of which 200 are sports merchandise shops while the rest comprise hawkers as well as those selling clothes.

“The Maidan Market sells every kind of sports goods. There is a wide variety of sporting accessories in the market that include nets as well. Good quality sports shoes and sneakers are also available,” said Nazimuddin. The market has become really popular among sports enthusiasts and it is the largest of its kind in the city. It is both a wholesale and retail market which offers the best bargain. The market remains closed on Sundays and reopens post 1 PM on Monday afternoon. While the demand for sports gears connected with other sports are mostly seasonal, however, demand for cricket and football gears are witnessed round the year and generate the maximum revenue.

Rajkumar of Seva Lal and Sons, a third generation shopkeeper who deals in jerseys, kits and other sports accessories agreed that Maidan Market is the best place to shop for sporting gears. His family was allotted a space when the market was first started and they have been in business ever since. “The facade has not changed. The walls are the same, most of the shops are the same. The struggles and triumphs are the same. The market remains constant, it is just us who come and go,” he said a little philosophically.

USP

Contrary to standalone shops selling sports goods, the best thing about Maidan Market is the bargain offered by the shops, suiting all kinds of pockets. Rajkumar said: “Football sees a lot of sales as well as cricket. The price range in jerseys varies from INR 100 to 500.” Cricket jerseys are a bit more expensive. “SS and SG are two popular brands that find a lot of customers in the market,” he added.

“When it comes to jerseys, one cannot match the collection at Maidan Market. Leave aside popular English Premier League or Spanish clubs, you will even find jerseys of international teams like Brazil, Argentina and Portugal,” said Rajkumar.

Kuntal Ghosh of St. James School who came with his friends shared that they preferred Maidan Market because of the affordable prices. “The options available here are phenomenal. When I started playing, I did not even know what kind of bat I should use. But the shop owners were helpful to point out factors such as length, weight and grains which determine a good bat.” Kuntal has been fairly regular at the market to pick up his favourite jersey before the IPL games.

One can also get their jerseys personalised for a nominal amount. The shops normally print the name and preferred jersey number of the customer at nominal additional cost, with each letter being charged INR 3 and each number INR 10.”

Other Sports

Apart from jerseys, one can buy gears for swimming, table tennis, lawn tennis, chess and even golf. “We sell pads, wickets and all kinds of protective gear as well. Even purchases of roller skates are on the rise with schools including it in their curriculum,” said Rajkumar. One can see colourful sports shoes dotting the place as well.

Sheikh Nizamuddin said that the demand for chess, carom board and ludo has always been steady. He also added that a lot of bigger shops buy from the market and sell them at their showrooms at a higher price. Two of the major suppliers for cricket kit are SS and SG, both of whom have more or less captured the market when it comes to reliability. Among cricket bats the lowest price is INR 350 and is usually made from Kashmiri willow. In football, Cosco is the most reliable brand.

Product Source

Goods are mostly procured from Meerut, Jalandhar and New Delhi among other destinations. However, the profit margins on the sale of goods which are procured from outside are low due to the additional cost involved in transportation and taxes. Even profits on branded sports goods are not very lucrative. It is the sale of locally produced sports goods that are most profitable for the shop keepers.

For football and other sports, people mostly buy one-off products, but when it comes to cricket, many buy an entire kit with a billing volume of INR 4000 – 5000 approximately. Nizamuddin further goes on to add that the market also sells badges for volunteers, trophies and medals as well. “The minimum price for badges is INR 10 while trophies start at INR 250 and can go up to a few thousands.”

Bulk Orders

Shyamali Basu of Jolly Stores said that one of their major customers for bulk orders were schools who usually handed over the design for the production of school jerseys. Rajkumar added that minimum number for bulk orders was at least 15 pieces. Going by the number of tailoring shops in the vicinity, one can comprehend the brisk business these shops were doing. In fact, as Nizamuddin pointed out, most state level sports associations also bought their jerseys and sports gears from the Maidan Market as well.

So the next time you have a cricket or football tournament either at your office or your residential community, you know exactly where to head for buying your sports gear.

Fast Facts

Location: Jawaharlal Nehru Road (Opposite Oberoi Grand Hotel)

Market hours: Tuesday to Saturday – 9 AM to 8.30 PM. Monday – 1 PM to 8.30 PM. Sunday Closed.

Nearest Car parking: Jawaharlal Nehru Road (Opposite Oberoi Grand Hotel)