Get in line at LuLu: Chennai’s new hypermarket draws huge crowds

A trip to the supermarket is rarely an event. It is usually a matter of making a list, navigating the aisles, filling a trolley and joining the checkout queue. At Chennai’s newest LuLu Hypermarket inside Shenoy Nagar Metro Station on opening day, however, the experience was closer to a spectacle, where the sheer volume of people threatened to overwhelm the act of shopping itself.

What should have been a shopping excursion raised a simple question: how does a supermarket generate such a frenzy?

Spread across approximately one lakh square feet, the facility is being billed as India’s first and largest hypermarket within a metro station. It comprises a 56,000-square-foot supermarket and a 50,000-square-foot department store housing LuLu Fashion Store and LuLu Connect. Groceries, fresh produce, daily essentials, fashion, footwear and electronics are available under one roof, with 28 checkout counters, and parking for more than 1,000 vehicles. 

The Shenoy Nagar hypermarket is part of LuLu’s larger push into Chennai’s metro network. The launch also introduces LuLu Daily at Chennai Central Metro Station, a 35,000-square-foot store offering fresh market produce, groceries and everyday essentials. The stores were inaugurated by Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, JCD Prabhakar, in the presence of LuLu Group Chairman MA Yusuff Ali on October 12.

“Shenoy Nagar is one of Chennai’s oldest residential neighbourhoods and it is, in some ways, the heart of the city, so we wanted to be here. We have been in Coimbatore for the last three years and this is the second location in Tamil Nadu. This particular hypermart can accommodate approximately 25,000 customers each day,” says Abdul Saleem, regional manager. 

The numbers are impressive. But Chennai is no stranger to large retail spaces. The city has sprawling malls, supermarkets stocked with imported goods, department stores, curated boutiques and food courts that can keep families occupied for hours. Scale alone, then, cannot explain the excitement surrounding LuLu. 

Part of LuLu’s appeal lies in the breadth of its offering. Unlike a store catering to a single shopping need, the hypermarket combines everyday purchases with the possibility of browsing for something entirely different. A shopper arriving for groceries can also look at clothes, footwear or electronics. The experience is designed to accommodate several needs in one visit.

The fresh food section, however, is perhaps the biggest draw. Fresh produce, meat, seafood and an assortment of cheeses, baked goods and more, give shoppers plenty to browse, even if they have arrived without a specific shopping list. A deli section, a hot kitchen churning out fresh meals, a bakery with bread being baked right in front of the customers, a roastery for nuts, snack section, and even a salad bar gives the customer plenty to choose from. 

The green apple, ghee and chocolate cakes, along with muffin tins, freshly baked bread and many different types of pastries were selling like hot cakes on the inagural day. The fresh food section was also selling out of plates of biryani, curries, salads, and more. Bowls of pickled vegetables, olives and other deli meats along with cheeses were being packed and stacked in shopping carts by the dozen.

But the scale of the operation comes with its own challenges. During a visit on opening day, navigating the hypermarket was difficult amid the overwhelming crowds. Some shoppers were standing in queues for as long as two hours at the checkout. 

As one observation from the day went, it is easy to lose track of time inside LuLu. 

With so much to browse through, taste and take home, many hours of shopping could pass quickly — particularly for those for whom the brand carries a sense of nostalgia. For shoppers familiar with LuLu from Kerala or the Gulf, the visit may have been about more than stocking up on groceries. It was an opportunity to revisit a familiar retail experience, this time in Chennai. 

For everyone else, however, there is little reason to brave the opening-week rush. A visit once the initial excitement settles should make for a far more comfortable experience.