KOLKATA NEW MARKET - A HISTORICALLY POPULAR AND ESSENTIAL SHOPPING PLACE FOR THE WORLD- ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

  If you are a fervent shopaholic, wanderer, explorer and a great foodie, wherever you are, New Market of Kolkata is the best and the most ideal place for you to visit. With more than 3000 shops and stalls, you barely can explore the whole of it in one day. But if you seek to gain some knowledge about it, this article feeds you with all you need to know about the place.

Location 

Initially the enclosed market behind the Oberoi Grand Hotel on the Lindsey Street was termed as the New Market . But in today's parlance the entire shopping area stretching from the Tipu Sultan Masjid in the north to the Indian Museum in the south is called New Market. This is essentially the Esplanade (Dharmatala) area with the Esplanade Metro Station. 

Timing 

Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri : 10:00 AM - 10:00 PM 

Sat  : 10:00 AM - 2:30 PM

Sun : Closed 

History

During the British India when Calcutta was the capital of the country, some of the earliest English quarters of Calcutta were in an area known then as the Dalhousie Square.  Later settlements arose in Kashaitola, Dharmatala and Chowringhee. By the 1850s, British colonists held sway in Calcutta and displayed increasing contempt for the "natives" and an aversion to brushing shoulders with them at the bazaars. In 1871, moved by a well orchestrated outcry from English residents, a committee of the Calcutta Corporation began to contemplate a market which would be the preserve of Calcutta's British residents. Spurred by the committee's deliberations, the Corporation purchased Lindsay Street, made plans to raze the old Fenwick's Bazar located there, and commissioned Richard Roskell Bayne, an architect of the East Indian Railway Company, to design the Victorian Gothic market complex which would take its place. It began to take shape in 1873, and Bayne was honoured for his achievement with a Rs. 1,000 rupee award, a large sum in the 1870s. Mackintosh Burn was the builder.

The giant shopping arcade was thrown open to the English populace with some fanfare on 1 January 1874. News of Calcutta's first municipal market spread rapidly. Affluent colonials from all over India shopped at exclusive retailers like Ranken and Company (dressmakers), Cuthbertson and Harper (shoe-merchants) and R.W. Newman or Thacker Spink, the famous stationers and book-dealers.

Sir Stuart Hogg, then the Chairman of Calcutta Corporation, had shown tenacious support for the plans to build the New Market. So, 28 years later, on 2 December 1903, the market was officially named Sir Stuart Hogg Market and later shortened to Hogg Market. Bengali society, in the British era, called it Hogg Shaheber Bajaar, a name that is still in use, just as a painting of Sir Stuart Hogg still hangs in Calcutta Corporation's portrait gallery. But the earliest provisional nickname, New Market, which remained in use throughout, proved to have the most sticking power.

Sir Stuart Hogg

New Market's growth kept pace with the city until World War II. The northern portion of the market came up in 1909 at an expense of 6 lakh rupees. Despite the gathering storm of World War II, an extension was engineered on the south flank, and the historic clock tower on the southern end of the market was shipped over from Huddersfield and installed in the 1930s. Florists were located near the front entrance, and stalls selling fresh and preserved foods were placed towards the rear of the market. Beyond the vegetable stalls, fishmongers and slaughterhouse butchers plied their trade, and, until the mid-1970s, at the very back of the market, exotic animals from all over the British Empire could be bought as pets.

Description

Despite the appearance of new air-conditioned, American-style, shopping malls all over Kolkata, New Market, which has survived two devastating fires and regular flooding, remains at the core of the shopping experience in the city. Over 2000 stalls under its roof sell everything from clothing to wheeled luggage to electronics to a special cheese found nowhere else. Under its apparent chaos lie extraordinary finds as well as remarkable bargains. Newmarket is a place to shop for garments & accessories, flowers, different food items including raw meat, fish, vegetables and fruits and even spices. There are crockeries and utensil stores. It also has a florist section dealing with exotic flowers. It is situated on Lindsay Street, Kolkata (Calcutta), just off Chowringhee Road, the market is open 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. Monday to Friday, until 7 p.m. on Saturdays, and closed on Sundays.

Shopping Essentials:

Apart from the branded malls of Sreeleathers, Woodland, Bata, New Market is a home of a lots of local shops , quite remarkable and a must visit. Those are :

1. Chamba Lama (Junk Jewellery shop)

Address : 58, 59 & 60, New Market Area, Dharmatala, Taltala, Kolkata, West Bengal 700087

Almost everyone in this city knows about Chamba Lama. It’s the shop to go to if you’re interested in shopping for intricate silver jewelry, but few of us know about how long this store, located in the narrow lanes of new market, has been part of our history. Chamba Lama, with its beautiful silver and metal collection of jewelry and accessories, brings us many stories. The owner, Sharon will tell you about how before independence their family, originally from Darjeeling, would travel to Kolkata in the winters and sell their curios and accessories. Back then handicrafts would arrive on ships in the Kidderpore port and be sold to the British and locals. Sharon’s mother acquired the store in New Market around 65 years ago, and since then the store has always been packed with customers of all ages with different senses of style.When we walk into Chamba Lama, it greets you with a wall full of colourful necklaces, bracelets and earrings. The rest of the walls are covered with silver and metal jewellery, curios can be found in unexpected corners and brass lamps hang from the ceiling. For most of us this was the shop we went to in our early teens to buy our first pair of silver earrings. There is so much variety here – tiny silver tops starting from INR 120 to larger ones which might go up to INR 1,800, heavy silver necklaces which start at INR 1,500 and can go up to around INR 15,000 depending on the amount of silver used on them. Larger earrings such as danglers start from INR 500.

2. Babar Ali / Baborally (baking essentials)

Address : 7, New Market Area, Dharmatala, Taltala, Kolkata, West Bengal 700087

From tins, moulds, to any single item you need for making a tasty attractive cake, Baborally serves you with all. It's little far too inside a shop which will need some extra efforts to find out if for the first time. But you can always ask the local shopkeepers for the way in. Once you're inside you buy more than you needed, also in less money than you expected.

 3. A Tosh and Sons India Ltd (Tea shop)

Address : 24, S.S Hogg Market, New Market Area, Kolkata, West Bengal 700087 

A.Tosh today is one of the most trusted Tea Suppliers globally. A.Tosh is a 123-year-old, dynamic, fourth-and-fifth-generation family-owned and professionally run tea solutions provider. The company serves over 80 clients across 50+ countries, blending, packing and storing teas at some of the best facilities in modern tea trade.

The company's brands, namely Tosh's Tea and The Hillcart Tales, have continued to gain prominence with some of the most eminent outlets, brands and business organisations. Our century-old tea emporiums in Calcutta are iconic destinations for people visiting the City of Joy.