Journey from the Pavement to Situ Medura : Riding high on consumerism

by Aditha Dissanayake

It is the year 3005. Pollution has swallowed the sun and forced all the inhabitants of Planet Earth to live indoors forever. Babies don't know what its like to play in a park and teenagers have never seen a city lighted up at night. They ask the internet, "What was it like thousand years ago"? Nostalgically the worldwide web rewinds to a time when it was...well just like it is now.

Focus. A shopping center. For most of us, life today is surely one big shopping expedition in the one-stop-shops called super markets. And when I mean "most of us", I don't mean only those of us living in Colombo but those who are living in Gampaha or Ampara as well. Especially those who keep stepping through the doors of Ranjan Lanka Stores everyday of the year in Gampaha.

Yet, the origins of this shopping center can be traced back to a pavement in Ampara. The year was 1960. The man selling clothing material on the pavement in Ampara was S.E Senanayake, an ex-worker of the Galoya Development Board. Within a few years the business flourishes enabling him to rent a building in the Ampara town and call it "Siyana Stores" which today has been changed as "Ranjan Lanka" by his son, Ranjan Senanayake.

"My father worked hard to introduce the supermarket concept to the villagers" says Ranjan. "He wanted to provide everything a consumer could want under one roof". From vegetables to toys, from spices to electrical goods. Even though he started the business in Ampara, soon Senanayake migrated to Colombo with the intention of providing a good education to his three children. After this move, it did not take him long to open a shop in his hometown, Gampaha.

"My father used to take us with him to Pettah when he went to purchase goods for the stores." Recalls Ranjan. "Even though I used to loath these trips in my youth, today I'm grateful for all the things I learnt from him in running a business like ours".

With over four hundred employees working with him, Ranjan attributes his success to the dedication of his staff, instigated due to the kind hearted administering of his wife, Sudarshani. "She takes a personal interest in all the staff and treats them as family" explains Ranjan.

He is happy that today ordinary men and women, who at first had been scared to step into his stores worried that it is a supermarket with goods sold at exorbitant prices, now find it an essential part of their lives.

Even though there are still stand alone shops in the Gampaha town many have discovered that rather than moving from one shop to another it is more convenient to step into Ranjan Lanka where all you need is to look around and buy what you need. Everything is more convenient, more secure and cleaner.

"Never join the bandwagon". Advises Ranjan to upcoming entrepreneurs.

"When the businessman next door buys a Benz if you can afford to buy only a bicycle you should learn to be satisfied with the bicycle. Likewise just because the shop next door has four stories, you should never aim to build five. Your sole intention should be to look after the needs of the consumers. Success comes to those who give quality goods at reasonable prices".