Kochi: A shop with no salesgirl nor billing counter nor a surveillance camera; but a money box to drop the cash for the article you purchase. Tucked away beside the 5th Cross Road at Panampilly Nagar, this Utopian store thrives on the dictum honesty is the best policy.
As you step into the Sathyam Stores, the recently opened outlet run by the Sathya Sai Orphanage Trust, you won't miss the board with a message: ‘This shop is a place to measure honesty in society.'
Most of the products on sale are made by the inmates of Sai Gramam run by the Trust and vegetables cultivated at the Sai Krishi Bhoomi. The store also has handloom products manufactured by the inmates of the orphanage.
The price of the product is displayed on each item. One can take away the item of their choice after dropping the cash equivalent to the price of the product into the box kept at the store.
The shop has a notice specifying that the name of the shop is ‘Sathyam’ (truth) and that there are no salespersons or staff to give you the change in case you don't have the exact amount for the article purchased. Each rupee dropped into the box is being directly utilised for the children of the orphanage.
The shop, the second one to be launched by the Sathya Sai Orphanage Trust, is open for business from 10 am to 5 pm. The first Sathyam Store was opened in Thiruvananthapuram in 2017.
The idea behind such a store was conceived from the fact that no one will dare to deceive one's own conscience.
Film director Major Ravi, who inaugurated the store the other day, said students should be brought to this shop to imbibe the values of honesty.
Sathya Sai Trust executive director K N Ananthakumar, coordinator Baby Kireedathil, district president Ramesh Menon, CEO of Sai Krishi Bhoomi Satheesh Vasudevan Nair, K V Paul were present at the inaugural function.
