Wal-Mart has finally arrived. Though its stores will be called Best Price – not Wal-Mart - and this is in the wholesale cash-and-carry business. Last Saturday, the Bharti-Wal-Mart joint venture opened its first store in Amritsar. Built over 50,000 sq ft, on the outskirts of the city, the store employs 200 locals and will likely create 500 indirect jobs.

The JV expects to open 10-15 wholesale cash-and-carry stores in North India and employ around 5000 people in the next three years. Excluding the real estate costs, it takes around $6-7 million to set up a store. The company has 800 suppliers, of which 80% are from Punjab and it promises to offer products at upto 25% lower price than the local wholesale market for its members. The store stocks around 6000 items. This is the second foreign retailer after Germany’s Metro to start cash and carry operations in India.

So what’s the big deal about the Wal-Mart cash-and carry store. Malini Goyal brings you a brief snapshot of a few things unique about Wal-Mart’s Best Price store.