Annapurna Bhandar, one of Chandni Chowk's oldest and most recognisable sweet shops, is preparing to shut its shutters for good on 31 December 2025. In doing so, it is bringing to a close a history that began in 1929. For generations, the narrow counter near Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib was a ritual stop for festival boxes, birthday sweets and hurried samosa runs. The closure is being watched with a mixture of sadness and inevitability by long-time customers and employees: it is at once the loss of a shop and the fading of a small, living slice of the city's culinary biography.
A Bengali Sweet Shop In The Heart Of Old Delhi
Annapurna Bhandar was started by Mohinimohan Mukherjee to serve the Bengali community and others in colonial Delhi. Over the decades, it became known for a compact, dependable repertoire: sandesh, mishti doi, cham cham, pink rasgulla and fried snacks such as samosas. Beyond daily trade, Annapurna Bhandar accumulated a certain quiet prestige over the decades. Its sweets were ordered for official functions and prominent public figures, including Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, were among those who sampled or sourced sweets from the shop at different points in time. Such associations helped its reputation travel well beyond Chandni Chowk, turning the modest counter into a recognised stop on culinary walks and heritage food trails across Old Delhi.
As per reports, Annapurna Bhandar was once entrusted with preparing sweets for the Indian cricket team after its historic 1983 World Cup victory. When the team returned to India, a reception was organised in New Delhi, and sweets from the Chandni Chowk shop were ordered for the occasion. The order reportedly included some of its best-known Bengali sweets, which were sent to be served to Kapil Dev and the rest of the World Cup-winning squad during the official felicitation.
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Why Annapurna Bhandar Is Closing
After a three-year legal battle between the Mukherjee family that ran the shop and the property owner, a court order has paved the way for the landlord to take possession of the premises. According to reports, the owner's rent demand (nearly Rs 1.5 lakh per month) was judged financially unviable for the family business to continue at that location. This has left the family with little practical option but to wind down operations.
Annapurna Bhandar's story is not unique. Chandni Chowk and other historic markets have faced repeated economic shocks in recent years. Even a shop with a near-century reputation can find those forces difficult to resist. The loss of such shops is therefore at once an economic event and a cultural one.
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