In 2005, Varun Aggarwal and Amit Goel weren’t starting an e-commerce company. They were starting a grocery store. With ₹50,000, fewer than 100 customers and no real playbook to follow, the two Co-Founders, began building what would eventually become Aap Ka Bazar. There was no app, no online storefront, no quick-commerce race to think about. There was a shop, the daily grind of retail, and the slow work of earning a customer’s trust one visit at a time.
More than two decades later, that small beginning has grown into a grocery business operating across physical stores and digital platforms. The distance between those two points is where the real Aap Ka Bazar story lives.
The Story Started With Grocery, Not Technology
Long before “quick commerce” became a term anyone used, Aap Ka Bazar’s founders were learning retail the only way it can really be learned — from inside it. Varun Aggarwal and Amit Goel handled sales and purchasing themselves in the early days, travelling on a small two-wheeler and figuring out, customer by customer, what people actually wanted from a neighbourhood grocery store.
The company describes its beginning simply: a “Kirana Ki Dukan,” started in 2005 with ₹50,000 and fewer than 100 customers. It wasn’t a pitch deck or a market opportunity on paper — it was a store that had to earn its regulars.
When Every Customer Mattered
With fewer than 100 customers to start, every single one counted. Every visit was a small lesson — what people bought each month, which brands they trusted, what brought them back. For Varun Aggarwal and Amit Goel, those everyday interactions became the foundation the whole business would later be built on.
The early years asked for long hours and hands-on involvement — the kind of retail work that isn’t glamorous but tends to build the sturdiest businesses.
Growing Beyond the First Store
The first real milestone wasn’t going online. It was simply growing — one store became two, then more, each stage bringing new customers, new operational questions, and new decisions. Varun Aggarwal and Amit Goel, alongside the founding team, kept steering those decisions as Aap Ka Bazar expanded its presence in Dwarka and across Delhi.
Today, Aap Ka Bazar’s physical stores include locations in Sector 7 Dwarka, Sector 12 Dwarka, Sector 23 Dwarka, and Mahavir Enclave, Palam — with a fifth store coming up in Dwarka Sector 19.
Taking Grocery Shopping Online
The grocery customer of today doesn’t shop quite the way the grocery customer of 2005 did. A shopping list that once lived on a scrap of paper now lives inside a phone, and customers expect to browse, compare and order without stepping outside.
Aap Ka Bazar met that shift in 2021, expanding into online grocery through its website and app. It wasn’t a departure from what the business already was — it was the same neighbourhood-store experience, translated for a customer who now shops differently. The platform today lists more than 8,000 products, from everyday staples and spices to dry fruits, beverages, personal care and household essentials.
Why the Founders’ Experience Matters
There’s a difference between entering grocery retail because the market looks promising, and spending two decades inside it, learning the business the slow way. Varun Aggarwal and Amit Goel belong to the second category. They lived the traditional kirana model, helped build out physical retail, and were there for the move into online grocery — which means technology became an extension of a retail business they already understood, not the starting point of one they were guessing at.
Building for the Next Generation of Grocery Shopping
Quick commerce has reset expectations around delivery speed, but it hasn’t replaced the need for planned, monthly grocery shopping — and serving both isn’t the same problem. For Aap Ka Bazar, meeting that combination means running physical supermarkets, a grocery website and an app side by side, rather than betting on just one format.
The company’s roots stay firmly in Delhi, particularly Dwarka, even as its online reach extends across Delhi NCR. The bigger question its founders keep returning to isn’t whether customers want digital convenience — they clearly do — but how a retailer holds onto the familiarity of neighbourhood grocery shopping while offering it.
A Beginning That Still Defines the Business
More than two decades ago, Varun Aggarwal and Amit Goel started with ₹50,000, fewer than 100 customers and a two-wheeler. Today, Aap Ka Bazar is part of a much larger grocery ecosystem — more stores, an online platform, thousands of products.
The technology has changed. The scale has changed. But the idea underneath the business hasn’t: understand the customer, earn their trust, and keep showing up. That may be the simplest way to explain how a small kirana store became Aap Ka Bazar.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded Aap Ka Bazar? Aap Ka Bazar was founded in 2005 by Varun Aggarwal, Amit Goel, Vikas Agrawal and Akash Agrawal, starting as a small kirana store with an initial investment of ₹50,000.
What is Varun Aggarwal’s role at Aap Ka Bazar? Varun Aggarwal is a Co-Founder of Aap Ka Bazar and has been part of the business since its start in 2005, including its growth into physical stores and online grocery.
When did Aap Ka Bazar go online? Aap Ka Bazar expanded into online grocery in 2021, launching a website and app alongside its existing physical stores.
Where does Aap Ka Bazar operate? Aap Ka Bazar operates physical stores in Sector 7 Dwarka, Sector 12 Dwarka, Sector 23 Dwarka and Mahavir Enclave, Palam and fifth store coming up in Dwarka Sector 19, with online delivery across Delhi NCR.
