“Lohar Chawl is one spot cheapest wholesale market for electronics and electrical goods in Mumbai. Hundreds of varieties of electronic products and raw material are sold by wholesale dealers shops regularly and during festivals at bulk discounted rates of about 30 %. Lets explore this lohar chawl market and know where exactly is the location with detailed address, how to reach, types of electronic products, market timings, car parking facilities, festival offers, discounted and wholesale rates etc..”
The Electronic Market
Lohar (Means a person in Iron Business) Chawl is a residential, grounded flat or a building which has separate tenements, which are the cheapest possible residential options in Mumbai. But with time core business (Iron related) is no more and have changed with just the name remains, like other gulli and lane names in Mumbai.
Lohar Chawl is a wholesale market for ready electronic goods and related raw materials used in making day to day electronic products required at home and businesses and also for festival decorations too. Major are wholesale dealers and many retailers in this market selling Industrial Electrical Goods, Cable and Wire Dealers, Inverter Dealers, LED Series Light sellers, Electrical Contractors, Other Hardware & Electrical Shops too.
Decades old multi lane market still has residential in major old duplex building still going strong. Those little windows and old Parsi uncle and aunties are seen looking from height out of those windows inside market area. This combined residential and commercial market has major retail and wholesale shops on ground level and the residential are all above it. It feels really good to see those age old residents relaxing and peeping out on streets which recalls me of the old time Bombay with less hustle bustle, and also think for how long will this commercial streets be blessed with such view.
Inside Lohar Chawl Market
During Festival Seasons
Actually some 15 days to a month before (Between September and December) during seasons of major festivals of Mumbai like Ganesh festival, Diwali, Navratri, Christmas etc. The shops and lanes at Lohar chawl market are flooded with decorative electronic items (See Video) like led bulb series, Candils, colorful jazzy lights, multi coloured razor lights and more. They are actually manufactured at far villages and factories of Maharashtra, Bhiwandi etc and takes advantage of seasonal & festive demand for decorative electronics by Mumbai citizens. It is that time in market when both seller and buyers are benefited.
Being a wholesale market, Lohar chawl is visited by many / major small and big retailers of Mumbai who have shops and branches around city. They purchase all required electronic products and raw material in bulk from this market getting discounts up to 30 to 35 % and more depending upon the quantity and relationship with dealers. They then sell all such products locally at higher price and earn good during festivals. Products like led lights & bulbs series, varieties of Lanterns (Candil in Hindi) seen in diwali, navratri and Ganesh festival and other electronic decorative required by interior designers in day to day for clients interior for kitchen, bathrooms, hall rooms etc are sold by local shops and retailers around city to citizens at MRP (Maximum Retail Price) or sometimes at higher prices too as detailed on products .
Regular Electronic Shopping and more
A Pro-Mumbaikar will pull out a day dealing with dealers instead of paying high cost to local retailers and explore Lohar Chawl to save a good amount for other festival products and needs. Other specialized markets of south Mumbai are also cheap on deals for various food items, clothings and other needed products for day to day life and during occasions and festival seasons. All such markets are connected to each other (See Exploring Charni Road Market link below). A little time spent exploring such markets, and fun with cheap shopping deals is all yours. Yes its actually fun to shop and look around all such old wholesale markets for varieties of specialized products in Mumbai and not just Lohar Chawl.
Although bargaining is possible at major street shopping of Mumbai like Colaba Causeway, Linking Road at Bandra and Fashion Street at Churchgate etc, Lohar Chawl being is a wholesale market, has already discounted deals and bargaining is wasting time of yours and shop keepers here.
Exact Location Address
Reaching Lohar Chawl via Other Markets From Charni Road
If you are new to south Mumbai market areas, It will be little tough to explore grant road and Charni road markets and then reach Lohar chawl market. Still, i will strongly recommend to explore both this station markets and reach this place to actually feel the south Bombay traders.
Reaching Lohar Chawl Directly
Else, Reaching Lohar Chawl is very simple. Nearest railway station on western railway route is Marine Lines (East) and CST at central route. Hardly 5 to 10 minutes walking distance (Taxi recommended for first timer). From those stations reach Crawford Market (5 to 7 minutes straight walk from Marine Lines Railway station, East) and exactly opposite side of road is Sheikh memon street, a market lane that goes towards Jama Masjid, Mangaldas Market & Zaveri Bazar. On very first left as you enter Sheikh memon street is this lane that taked you deep inside Lohar Chawl market.
So the Land Mark : Lanes between Crawford Market and Mangaldas market, Adjacent to Sheikh Memon Street.
As soon as you enter these small lane, you will observe that the major shops (Wholesale Dealers & Retailers) are selling electronic products only. Couple of multi-lanes and four way exits seen once inside. Online Google map covers and shows major streets inside Lohar Chawl location area are Pathan Wadi, Mangaldas Road, L T Road, Kantilal M Sharma Street, Kitchen garden Lane, Pannalal Chowk, Vithaldas Lane, Babu Genu Road, Shamaldas Gandhi Marg etc.
Car Parking
Getting your personal vehicle like car or an SUV inside the by-lanes of Lohar Chawl is not impossible, But i will highly recommend to park the same at Crawford market pay and park location or somewhere on L T Road (main road that comes from Marine Lines Station) adjacent to this market. Stretch your legs a little and start exploring these electronic market lanes and you will find the reason why i recommended to park it outside. Bikes, Bullock carts, Hand Carts (Major) goes hand to hand with pedestrians, all in about 5 feet length lanes of Lohar Chawl market area. I should not forget mentioning, Small tea stalls (Tapari as said in Hindi), Snacks corners, Hawkers & Sellers are also on the same lanes.
The only back to back parked cars one can see inside market’s area are of those shop owners, residential who have no options but to do the same. A minor observation and one can see major scratches on all / major private cars parked here or inside any south Mumbai markets lanes.
Market Timings
Monday to Friday between 11:00 Am till 8:00 Pm are the shopping timings when major shops are opened. During Sundays, all markets of South Mumbai are closed. During festival seasons, although its very crowded at any hour, it is recommended to visit in afternoon timings between 12:30 and 3:00 and it will help lesser crowd comparatively. Also during festivals, shopping goes till little late around 10:30 with hawkers.
More markets to explore in Mumbai
I already detailed about street shopping options in above section, More to recommend to have a look is Diwali Shopping Markets, Spices (Masala) Markets, Chor Bazar, Natraj Market Malad, Andheri Lokhandwala, just to list few shopping options to explore.
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