The South Indian Flower Shop in Matunga was established by a Tamilian named Tanga Thevar in 1942.
After saying goodbye to the iconic south Indian hotel in Matunga recently, Mumbaikars will soon have to say goodbye to one of the oldest flower shops in the same area. In the 350 sq ft area of Matunga's flower shop, the South Indian Flower Shop near post office was established by a Tamilian named Tanga Thevar in 1942, when he migrated to the city at the age of 14. Tanga's son Murgesh later owned the shop, before his sons Vinayak and Vignesh took over the business.
Today, the third generation of the family is struggling to continue the business. The shop will undergo re-development soon and will need to be shut down. Shop-owner Vinayak Thevar (30) said, "Since the last five years, we have not been able to maintain the business because flowers are now being ordered online. After redevelopment, the area will have a shopping centre on the ground floor and a residential building on the top. Selling flowers in a shopping center is not worth it and we are not comfortable running the business on a footpath like hawkers. We have another shop in Chembur, which is run by my uncle."
Reminiscing about the old days, Thevar said in the beginning, 60 workers worked in the small flower shop. They even imported rare flowers from different states in south India. Now, the shop has only five workers. He added, "For the last few years, flower shops have been opening on every street of the city. Customers also prefer going to a nearby shop rather than going to a big flower market. In my father's and grandfather's era, people travelled from places such as Virar, Vashi and Vasai to buy flowers. Matunga was in demand for flowers till 10 years ago. Importing rare flowers was a big deal earlier. But now, every flower shop has the same type of flowers. There is nothing rare. Why will the customers travel such long distances?"
Thevar and his younger brother Vignesh are engineers by profession and look after the business in shifts. "It is only during the Ganesh festival that we import 50 kg flowers from Tamil Nadu after every five days. On other days, we prefer to buy flowers from Dadar and Parel flower markets," he said.
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 "Matunga flower shop Hemant Padalkar dna")
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