General Items Turns Over A New Leaf

There’s magic in the mundane.

Over a year ago, General Items stretched out into the skeleton of a former school-provisions store in Ulsoor. This clutch-size modern retail store co-founded by two city girls — sourcing consultant Malini Malik and Tiipoi’s Spandana Gopal — stocks “objects that bring joy through utility and elevate the rituals of daily life.” They were inspired by the inventory of its original occupant – where general or everyday items were sold; but at General Items, these objects have been given artistic attention.

“The idea was for the store to always be a dynamic space,” says Spandana, in our chat. In just 300 square feet, they’re able to pack quite a punch. In their inaugural Showcase 01: Objects of Emotion, they featured cookware pieces from Tiipoi, ceramic sculptures from Aman Khanna’s Claymen and artist Tosha Jagad, concrete models from Material Immaterial Studio, apparel from much-loved indie brand Lovebirds, books by city artist Tara Kelton, Bengaluru indie publisher Press Works amongst others.

Sale away with me

Previously, General Items functioned more as “an exhibition space” but with its second showcase, the store has adopted categories from a “traditional retail setup” as launchpads to curate their in-store products and “maintain freshness at the space,” says Malini. With Showcase 02: Viewpoint, they launched three new categories: pantry, fashion and wellness besides their existing ones of home and accessories. General Items doesn’t just stock products made by indie designers and home-grown producers, it collaborates with these makers to create a range of exclusive items for their store too.

“In our first showcase, we did a workwear jacket. And the customer response was very good,” says Malini. And since, they “were keen to expand into fashion as a category,” it seemed an obvious starting point. “We had [fashion designer] Naushad Ali do the second version of the jacket, it’s more design-oriented and playful with motifs of the stars and moon,” Malini explains, opening out the jacket to show LURU its vibrant lining. “Spandana and I, both love wearing shirts, so we wanted to include a classic white shirt in our offerings,” Malini adds. And so, they gave designer Savio Jon, the brief: “create a white shirt for General Items” and since “he’s known for his use of stitch,” he has employed this technique to elevate these shirts which come in “three different styles with varied pocket placement and buttons, that are vintage Japanese nut shell.”

While the store’s inventory might have grown in the past year, the curatorial eye at General Items remains quite rigorous. “Any brand we onboard has to fit into the question of whether it’s a general item or not,” Malini adds. “Like with our wellness category, we’ve stuck to soaps, perfumes and creams because they’re utilitarian everyday things but we wouldn’t get into make-up or stock an off-shoulder dress.”

The devil is in the details

“I feel with General Items, we’re particular about being able to say to the consumer: this is what you can do if your product reaches the end of its life,” Spandana pipes in, speaking to another hue in their stocking sensibilities. “Things aren’t going to last forever, there’s something humane about that, I mean: we don’t last forever.”

With Tiipoi’s Longpi cookware products, for instance, if a product cracks with use, “we want to be able to tell the customer why it happened,” she says. And they can do this “because each product has a serial number, we can actually track all the details like when it was fired or when it was made,” she explains. “And then, we always offer a replacement. Because people have developed a relationship with this product. And the old one with the crack can be used as a planter. It’s important to us that people return to the store – if something is broken, we should be able to replace it or come up with an idea or a solution,” Spandana offers.

And to this effect, Showcase 02: Viewpoint at General Items isn’t about products alone: it’s playful storytelling as well. Tucked into the various corners of this cosy store are vintage viewfinders – throwbacks to a simpler childhood. “We just found it to be an interesting play on looking, on viewpoint. We’re all on our phones in an endless scroll, glued to screens, and these viewfinders seemed quite poignant as different objects to look through,” Spandana ponders. “And through these viewfinders, we share simple stories about the makers. So, if you look through a viewfinder, there’ll be a couple of images and anecdotes. The hope being that when you look through it, you feel you’re maybe entering someone else’s world,” she says, nudging us to pick it up and take a gander.

The details: 24, Gangadhar Chetty Road, Ulsoor, call 9900070420. Tuesday to Sunday, Noon-8pm. Follow them here.