FabIndia Koramangala

There are very few clothing stores that I can say I’m in love with. There are very few stores where I feel like buying a large proportion of merchandise on display whenever I visit it. There are very few stores where just the atmosphere makes you buy much more than you had planned to. And it’s a pity that on two of my visits to the store, I bought nothing.

I haven’t been to too many FabIndia stores outside Bangalore (only a handful of stores in Gurgaon and maybe one in Delhi) but having shopped a few times at the FabIndia store in Koramangala, I feel distinctly underwhelmed whenever i go to any other outlet. Having been several times to this beautifully designed house, I find FabIndia outlets housed in less spectacular buildings sad. Of course there have been times (including two days ago) when I’ve shopped at other outlets but the experience simply doesn’t come close.

The first time I went to the store was some four or five years back when Anuroop wanted to check out kurtas. I think we went there on Bunty’s recommendation but I remember that I hadn’t bought anything. I had quickly made amends for it a couple of months later when I bought a couple of shirts, and then a year later when I bought a dozen shirts at one go!

The only other time I went there without purchasing anything was yesterday morning, when I was visiting the store after a gap of some two or three years. The first thought was one of guilt – of having shopped in a less spectacular Fabindia store (the one at Kathriguppe) just the previous night, and then as I got over it I got overwhelmed with the variety on display. I suddenly got afraid that I might over-spend and made a dash for the exit.

I wasn’t gone for too long, though, as I returned in the evening with Priyanka, and this time we discovered something even more spectacular – something that I had completely missed during my hajaar earlier visits – the store cafe. The brownie was decent, and the coffee was just about ok, but that didn’t matter one bit. Once again, it was the atmosphere at play, and that the coffee shop had in plenty.

It’s something like a small arena. If you can perform some visual art (say a play or a dance) in a five feet square area, this is just the place for you! All around the 5×5 “well” (which is full of pebbles) are stone benches, at different levels. Cushions have been placed on some arbitrary benches, and we understood that that’s where it was supposed to sit. There wsa some music that I didn’t quite recognized but was quite pleasant, and the wooden trays in which the waiter brought our coffees were also beautiful – I might have bought something like that from the store had I been in a spendthrift mood yesterday!

If you are in Bangalore and are interested in cotton clothes you should definitely check out this store sometime. It’s in Koramangala, in the extension of the intermediate ring road. Make sure you go there leisurely, for there is plenty to see and buy (the inventory is about six times as much as that of an “ordinary” FabIndia store). And while you are there, do visit the cafe and lounge around there for a while. And think about Priyanka and me while you are there.

10 thoughts on “FabIndia Koramangala”

  1. Hey, I love this store too!
    I was introduced to this store while I was on campus and I’m sure it was a major reason why I fell in love with Fabindia in the first place.
    FYI, that house was designed by Charles Correa based on the design of traditional south Indian homes.

    1. yeah. someone told me that – that it was designed by charles correa. I used to think that they had taken an existing house and converted that into a store.

      and I’m sure I’d’ve also not become such a big fan of Fabindia had I not been to this store

  2. The Fabindia store at Mysore is also in a heritage kind of house..not as well stocked as the Koramangala store but still interesting. If I remember right, Charles Correa built the house for himself but later sold it to Fabindia.

    1. which house did he build for himself? the one in Mysore or the one in Koramangala?

      and I’m sure that their sales are much much better in this store (even after accounting for size, collection, range, etc.) than in other “normal” stores. though right now I can’t think of an objective measure to measure the “ambience value” of this store

  3. they used to have a lovely garden at the back which is also now converted into the huge display space at the back of the building

  4. As Usha says, apparently Charles Correa designed the Koramangla house for himself and it was later taken over by Fabindia.
    The Puducherry store is in a heritage building in the French quarter. I think the building in which the Fabindia store at Kala Ghoda/Fort is would also be a heritage structure.
    I still like the Koramangala store best though

  5. oh i love this store too! though some time ago they chopped off the rooms on the right and made that into a store for another brand.

    but really, the experience is something!

  6. Shud go here then, after all the commercial complex Fabindias I have been to…the one time I went, this Koramangala one was closed and that memory just remains!

  7. Hey..
    Guess what i’m an architecture student from Pune studying Charles Correa’s house (well former house)…. and i really find your inputs regarding the atmosphere and mood in the space very resourceful…
    I am definitely coming at Koramangala fabindia when in Bangalore..
    Well i’v been to Puducherry fabindia in the French Quarter… it is a spectacular place..

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