Mehzabeen Padania, now in her sixties, has been shopping from the same kirana store ever since she moved to Bandra West after she got married. It's the same provisions - dal, rice, sherbet and khakra - that she has been buying from Kakubhai's for nearly the last 40 years. On this Thursday morning accompanying her is a neighbour, also as old as Padania. In their lives, she says, there are no youngsters anymore to teach them how to use a mobile app or an online service, such as Big Basket or Amazon. But, that's not the only reason the two make their weekly trip to Kakubhai's, located at the base of Mount Mary's and today run by Rajesh Gala and his wife, Nita. "I have seen them grow up before my very eyes," says Padania. "Yeh dukaan imandar hai," she says, praising the establishment for its honesty.

As Padania strolls the shop's little alley, she is not alone in her confidence in the kirana dukaan. The familiar little store, dotting our neighbourhoods, has emerged resilient in the face of the growing might of major e-commerce platforms. Not just that, but leading e-commerce sites, which once posed a major threat to these mom-n-pop stores, and continue to do so, are learning business strategies from them, even joining hands to increase their reach. Less than a month ago, The Wall Street Journal reported how big retail chains, right from Amazon to Reliance, have failed "to find a profitable niche in India".