Love how this Uttarakhand-based brand curates local products!
Plus, they've got books by local authors. 😍
Green Life Bazar, as the name suggests, is a green(ish)-looking store curating products from local brands. Tucked away in Landour's market, this store takes the idiom 'it takes a village to raise a child' quite seriously. The child, in this case, is the community of homegrown brands.
When you step into the cosy store, the woollen buntings and festive green interiors will charm you! I love that they've got aisles full of snacks, grocery, skincare range rubbing shoulders with books written by local authors. Honestly, I found some gems of books here — a lot more than Cambridge Bookstore (sorry!). If you read a lot, pick a book or two by Stephen Alter and Vishal Bharadwaj. There are plenty of recipe books too.
I'm a skincare fiend notoriously known for picking even questionable brands. And as any sane person can imagine, I had mixed experiences here: I got my hands on their handmade soap (not a fan of its mica content) and face masks. Their clarifying mud mask is cocktail of various clays, making it perfect for acne-prone skin, but you can live without this product. You can also order it online here. What’s worth picking is a tub of apricot cream, which works more like a body lotion.
What Makes Green Life Bazar Special?
So many brands belting out products like it’s nobody’s business — how do you keep up with them? How do you actually try out plenty and figure out which one’s a keeper? GLB is a marketplace that curates and handpicks diverse pahadi brands; empowering small businesses is their core.
From stocking up on the iconic AS Prakash's jams and spreads to the locally-produced rhodendron tea and incense sticks, GLB’s curation is for both locals and travellers. If you're someone like me who prefers lingering in a town for more than a week, you can pick staples like ghee, oils, millets, and the most delicious chutneys (bhaang or hempseed chutney, anyone?).
Can't do without coffee? You might have to fight an urge to grab all the four coffee variants by Landour Coffee. And then, there's addictive chips and crips that transport you to school days. You get the drift — there's a lot to shop here. Like a gift that keeps on giving!
If you're in Landour, headover to GLB, have a nice chat with the ladies at the store, and shop your heart out. If you can't, you can always shop online from them here. You can also hit them up on Instagram.
And that’s it from me! I’ll see you in a bit with another recommendation. 👋