A row of 59 rundown shops on Babasaheb Shinde Marg near Government Colony in Bandra East will soon make way for a swanky commercial tower. Shopkeepers who occupy the spot have accepted the terms and are vacating the premises with a heavy heart. Some are relocating while others are shutting shop for good. All looked back on the glory days and shed light on how the market played a significant role in careers small and big and how the place had been a hub for celebrities, on and off.

Called the Shastri Nagar municipal market, the plot has 59 licenced shops and earlier a fish market shed too. The BMC’s markets department records suggest the market existed since 1980. “It was in 1974 that we came to know that a theatre was to come up here. It was called Kalamandir. We were young. Mya and I set up a shop here. We knew it would be lucrative once the theatre came up and we succeeded. I remember the road was narrow and we all settled well before the theatre was opened,” recalled Suresh Gawde, one of the earliest shopkeepers here.