Houston Welcomes ManPasand Supermarket!

By Preanka Desai

HOUSTON: All the way from Austin, Manpasand Supermarket has come to Houston with its vast range of flavors and spices. Right from fresh veggies, Indian sweets and snacks to 52 freezers with a variety of frozen foods. The Supermarket is newly renovated and expanded from its old Savoy food market.

Masala Radio organized a Sunday Funday Grand Opening event on Sunday, January 7, from 10am – 2pm and people forming a line to enter since 8am.  Sandhya Thakkar and Bhavisha started decorating the parking lot early in the morning with balloons, red Masala Radio tents, and wind dancers and the Masala Hummer at the street corner to let everyone know about the grand opening.   Sharp at 10am, AmirAli Maknojia, owner of Manpasand Supermarket, opened the doors and greeted everyone with a smile and the enthusiastic customers poured in.  As a token of good luck, coupons for silver coins, rice bags, prestige pressure cookers were given to first 100 lucky customers. Manpasand Supermarket also offered all guests complimentary Samosa Chaat, Pani Puri, Bhel Puri and hot Masala Chai for which there was always a rush.  By noon, contented shoppers stood patiently in checkout lanes that extended all the way down the aisles while Sandhya Thakkar & RJ Preanka engaged with shoppers who rolled out carts chockfull of groceries and remarked, “the prices are so low… 40 limes for just $1”.

DJ AJ in the red Masala Radio tent at the entrance, mixed popular Bollywood songs, which made the event, feel like a party and had the guests dancing in aisles while shopping.  Umang Mehta of Deep Foods graciously doled out 500 delicious Deep juices with a variety of flavors.  Todd Freeman of Texans Energy, felt like a vendor at a busy Mumbai store, surrounded by hundreds of customers to get their free Texans Energy T-shirt who happily even exchanged sizes for guests and eventually ran out of all shirts in just two hours.  Masala Crew member Dhaval Patel gave away 500 free kites sponsored by Gujarati Samaj of Houston and ISSO Swaminarayan temple to celebrate the upcoming event of Uttarayan on January 14. Rakesh Jain and Pratiksha of MyTaxFiler were present at the event to meet with anyone who needed free tax advice and tips.  Realtor Sony Kohli stopped by to say hello to the Masala team and took pictures in front of the Indian Premier Padmini car.

The huge crowd present at the Grand Opening not only caused long shopping lines at the store but also caused a major traffic jam on Wilcrest all the way till West Bellfort. One officer was not enough to guide the cars so Masala Crew member Ruchir Patel stepped in to assist with traffic flow whistling Indian style.

RJ Priya led shoppers in an impromptu dance class.  In no time the store was converted into a dance stage and all shoppers joined in to dance.  Participants were gifted with Deep Foods goodies and Texans Energy rewarded two winners with a free Rockets ticket.

Manpasand Supermarket is located at 11246 South Wilcrest Drive #145 B, Houston, TX 77099 and is open Monday through Sunday from 10:00am to 11:00pm. Please call (832) 850-7111 for further information.