Nilgiris 1905
==Nilgiris (Supermarket)==
Nilgiris is a supermarket chain in India (currently operating in southern India), which is very popular among the locals for a good quality one-stop shopping experience. The origin of this supermarket chain can be traced back to Muthusamy Mudaliar, who was a runner (messenger who runs) for the British in colonial India.
In 1936, the shop moved to Bangalore with its registered office on Brigade Road, a small shop exactly where the huge mother store is now located. The first expansion happened when Muthusamy Mudaliar's son Chenniappan, also the chairman, established Nilgiris as a modest store carrying Nilgiris' own products, mostly dairy and bakery. Eventually, it evolved into a supermarket when Mr Chenniappan visited the U.S. and Europe and was influenced by the old supermarket concept in the west. ``Quality products at competitive rates all under one roof. Only, he refined it in the local context and set guidelines. He also reinforced what already existed — a very clear code of conduct, which guides the entire family that comes together to run Nilgiris, India's first supermarket with self-service facilities.It is around this time in the 1960s that the Chennai chapter opened. P.M. Natarajan started the small Madras Farm Agencies in the Everest Building (it still stands strong near Rippon Buildings) in Periamedu, with encouragement from Chenniappan. They were the first big private suppliers of milk in the city. Before the crack of dawn the train from Erode (their main dairy division even now) would chug in with five 40-litre cans of milk. Nilgiris also set up their first pasteurising plant at Erode, which Aavin used till they set up their own. Yielding to pressure from the Madras shoppers at Bangalore, the chairman further encouraged Natarajan to set up a full-fledged branch in Madras. They bought the vacant three and a half grounds plot on Radhakrishnan Salai and then the adjacent plot of one and a half grounds. (The owner now lives in an apartment in the Nilgiris building). The Chennai Nilgiris officially opened in 1981 as just a cake shop. A year later, the department shop opened with Natrajan as the branch manager. The rest of the building, other sections, the restaurant and The Nest (the hotel) grew at a slow pace of construction. Not all of us know that this is the only Nilgiris in Chennai. All the others are franchises controlled by the head-office based Franchisee Division. The store itself is the additional responsibility shared by every member of the management. They are a recognisable feature in the system, always walking around, quietly checking on the running of the store at every stage. What comes through more than the fact that Nilgiris is a privately owned concern, is that it is about a set of values that the family grew up with and stayed by.