Honesty Society

Wonderful place to shop 😊

Very nice

'Honesty Store' as fondly called by the long-time locals established itself as an interestingly different commercial outlet. Moving from simple small spaces (from the popular Mission Street area, for example), the store has the Bengali flavour as the trained staff are usually Bengalis.

Choosing the items from the shopping list, getting them weighed & walking with the triplicate bill to the cash counter, & then presenting the copy with 'cash received ' seal to collect the items (not to forget the brand new currency notes & well polished coins that were tendered as change when we give a 'big' currency note) - the public got trained to a structured shopping way back in the 1970's.

Added to this systematic shopping was the public education that Honesty offered to it's customers: grocery items needed to be mentioned in English or Hindi - as required & not in the local language, Tamil. So it was common sight to see the Pondicherrians- men & women standing in the queue before you - asking for 'Thoor Dhall', 'Besan' & 'Gingely oil' & not mentioning them in the local language. Of course, where necessary, the store had staff members who did it for the customers.

What hasn't changed is the uncompromising quality and the satisfactory variety of the desi products.

The world might've become one huge global village. But some things can only be bought at Pondicherry Honesty Society - their honey, for example, which by all means, is the purest according to market researchers.

Good

Good Products only