Just a few weeks ago, Bettendorf’s second Indian store opened its door, bringing with it dozens of new opportunities for the growing local Indian community.
With over 7,000 Asians in the Quad Cities metro area and counting, the QC Asian community continues to grow. To fill their growing demands, India Mart, a new Indian store, opened on Nov. 3, 2024 to become the second Indian grocery store in Bettendorf.
The store offers a wide variety of products, ranging from flour and rice to cookies, jams and preserves. The store also has fresh veggies that are brought in from Chicago twice a week, on Monday and Thursday. India Mart also offers other services, including an eyebrow threading salon that is open during most afternoons.
India Mart’s location has raised many eyebrows. Located on the backside of Cumberland Square next to the Goodwill, India Mart is a one-minute walk from its competitor, QC India Market. Economic principles predict that companies offering similar services will tend to gravitate together to compete, just like these two stores have done.
Business manager Charnjit Singh explained the company’s reasoning for this location. “We bought the property that includes the connecting four stores so we could have our own customized space for opening India Mart. We really liked the location and parking space and its proximity to a lot of housing communities in Bettendorf,” he explained.
From a product side, many customers are satisfied with the lowered prices due to the competition. “It’s such a good strategy because it gets rid of the monopoly that QC India Market had. Both can now compete for lower prices,” noted junior Vaibhav Gandikota.
The store is pushing hard on advertising, hoping to become a stable competitor for QC India Market. One of their novel techniques includes creating a daily message system that informs local shoppers of store happenings. “I think [the system] is very useful because we can confirm if fresh vegetables did indeed come that day and which ones did. It also lets us know about the current sales so we can always get the lowest prices,” explained Gandikota.
With the Quad Cities’ continuous development, the Indian community will only continue to grow. With it, new stores like India Mart will naturally find their place in the business sector, fulfilling the rising needs of this community.
