The story of 91-year-old iconic dry fruit shop in Hyderabad

In the 1930s, the Shivram Grover migrated from Peshawar, now in Pakistan, to Hyderabad and began selling fruits and dry fruits to the households of Nizam of Hyderabad and other monarchs like the Queen of England and Turkey’s Ottomans.

Hyderabad: The iconic Moazzam Jahi Market houses a slew of stores dating back to the 1940s. Almost every bend leads to the shop selling ittars, vegetables, flowers, dry fruits, ice cream, and earthen pots. However, standing apart here is the iconic Shivram Peshawari & Bros that was started in 1931.

Tucked away on the corner of a bustling road, this store is still going strong after 90 years with the third generation stepping into the direct family business.

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The story of how Shivram Peshawari & Bros came into existence is as humble as it can get. In the 1930s, Shivram Grover migrated from Peshawar, now in Pakistan, to Hyderabad and began selling fruits and dry fruits to the households of Nizam of Hyderabad and other monarchs like the Queen of England and Turkey’s Ottomans.

In no time, his products became so popular that Shivram set up a small stall. Today, Vijay Grover, the third generation owner, is managing the extremely popular outlet.

“Ours was the first store that was started at MJ Market. Before that, it was near Karachi Bakery. When the MJ Market was constructed, we were perhaps the first occupants there. Besides Nizams, we used to sell to Jagirdar’s College, now Hyderabad Public School, and others, ” he says. They used to procure fruits from across the country while figs, raisins, and other dry fruits were from Afghanistan.

Vijay initially didn’t plan to enter the business but shifted gears on realising a bigger role in modernising his family business.

“I was an investment banker for over a decade. In 2016, I took the business online when I realised dynamics changed and many didn’t prefer to go to MJ Market to buy the products. We started partnering with online platforms and kicked off our website,” he says.

Since 2019, his business has been seeing manifold growth, especially online, servicing over 1.5 lakh unique orders from Kashmir to Andaman. The store, which sells about eight varieties of dates and wide combo packs, is now a favourite destination for health-conscious individuals.

Being Amazon’s preferred seller is another feather in his cap. When the buzzword was immunity during Covid-19, his sales zoomed to 400 orders per day. One of the biggest orders executed in the shortest time was 2,000 gift boxes for KIMS Hospitals in about seven days.