Trekking/Hiking Shoes in Mumbai

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This entry is about buying trekking shoes in Mumbai. After I had to dump my hiking shoes at SFO airport due to weight problems, I was looking out for good hiking shoes. After searching on google, I found three stores that may sell hiking shoes. I wasnt keen on buying Woodland shoes because (a) They are bulky and weighty (b) and a couple of guys on my last hike complained about the grip in monsoon.
It was confirmed by few reviews on some websites. Whatever little I can find on net, most of them recommended Action trekking shoes. At Rs. 650/- they are cheap and according to reviews very durable. I found there are three shops thats specialize in Hiking Materials in Mumbai.

1. Avi Industries
13, Shirji Sadan, 352, Chandvarkar road,
Matunga(E), Mumbai
022 24143810
022 65779787

2. Great Outdoors
Shop No 10, Sunshine height,
Gyan Mandir Road, Opp Jain Health Center,
Dadar(W), Mumbai

3. Adventure 18
4, Wallace Apt,
9/140 Spark Center
Behind Bhatia Hospital
Grand Road (W), Mumbai
022-23803102


All the three shops are at walking distances from the respective stations. As with any address in Mumbai, just ask and you will be lead to. All the three shops are tiny 10 X 10 ft shops and dont expect to find any kind of variety at all. Great Outdoors has a shop in Thane too. However it does not have any trekking shoes. It can be skipped.

As I started from Andheri, my first stop was Matunga Road station. Taking the "Z" bridge, I walked over to Matunga Central station and just outside the station is Avi inudstries. I reached at around 10.30 only to find the shop closed. The shop is next to Trilok bar, whose owner, Khetan Shetty, was sitting outside idly in the bar patio. He invited me to join him for a chat till the shop opened. A very nice guy, he also likes traveling and when I mentioned my intended South India bike trip, his face lightneded. He tipped me on some places that I should not miss. I asked him about running a hotel in place like mumbai to which he replied a bit pompously, "Mumbai mein business karna hai to darne ka nahi, pet ka sawaal hai'. The Shetty brothers own 7 bars among themselves. Born and brought up in Mumbai, as is customary nowadays, he rused about the influx of outsiders and how its destroying everything. Suddenly a guy, with a bandaged hand and a bad hangover look, showed up. Khetan said he owned a tailor shop which is 50 years old.
All his customers were wealthy gujaratis from Napean sea road and came to that small shop at the corner of the narrow bylane in their plush cars ! Mumbai, its charms and its people !

Finally, Avinash Kamath showed up, riding ramrod straight on his scooter. He is an avid mountaineer, although not a very good salesman. When asked what shoes he would recommend for Himalaya mountaineering, he propmtly aksed me to check out on google. He showed me his only pair of shoes and sternly warned me that I should not expect any variety. Having done a number of mountaineering expeditions and mountaineering course from HMI way back in 1968, he is very well known and has a loyal customer set. Maybe he could not tolerate a rookie like me trying to strike some conversation about Himalayan mountaineering ! Anyway, I left his place without making a purchase (ha ! mountaineering lingo !) and almost making up my mind to buy the Action shoes.

At Dadar, I had the Jumbo king wadapav (a McDonalds avtar of wadapav) and scooted to Great Outdoors. They make the camping and hiking materials locally under the brand name Great Outdoors. I dont know much about their quality so I hopped on the local for my next stop, Grant road. Adventure 18 is a delhi based store owned by well known mountaineer Mohit Oberoi, with a small outlet in Mumbai. Again a 10 X 10 ft shop, they had 4-5 pairs on display. The manager is a nice guy named Amarjeet desai, who himself has done a number of expeditions in Himalayas including the moutaineering course in NIM, Uttarkashi. He honestly told me there was no need of buying any shoes just for the course, as the institute will provide me all the stuff. After a long one hour chat, I finally ended up buying a Quechua , Forlaz 500, water proof hiking shoes with ankle support for Rs 3500/- at the quoted price (I am never good at bargaining). Happy with my purchase I took the Virar fast back to Andheri.

p.s: Currently dealing with the patchy internet connect. MTNL, the government company, as well as the internet service it provides both work at amazingly slow speed.

p.s. (06 Dec 2009) : The quechuas worked liked a charm and I totally love them. Although I met a guy who bought the same pair of shoes at a Bangalore factory outlet of Decathlon at 2400/-. I checked their website (here and they are selling it for 2899 and can deliver it online.

There is another place in Wadala that you can check out. A friend recommended
The OutdoorTravelGear Store
207, Hanuman Industrial Estate,
G.D. Ambekar Marg,
Wadala, Mumbai 400031.
INDIA
check out their website

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Comments

[Prabhakar Hegde]

Thank you
I liked this, will visit one of the stores for action shoes