Downtown Kollam

Downtown Kollam is the primary central business district in the city of Kollam, Kerala, India. Located entirely within the former municipality of old Quilon, it is approximately bounded by Chinnakada to the east, Thangassery to the West, Cutchery to the north, and Mundakkal to the South. The area is popularly known for its business activities. Kollam has a hoary past. It was an international emporium of trade and even now it is a prosperous commercial centre.^[1]

Paikkada road in Downtown Kollam - Once this road was the nerve of Malabar Coast's business capital 'Quilon'

Downtown area of Kollam is very famous for its business history. Marco Polo, the great Venician traveller, who was in Chinese service under Kublahan in 1275, visited Kollam and other towns on the west coast, in his capacity as a Chinese mandarin.^[2] He pointed out the that Old Kollam is the only town in west coast with multi-story buildings. We can see those buildings in the downtown area of Kollam even now. He found Christians and Jews living in Coilum (Kollam). He also found merchants from China and Arabia. He has given a detailed account of Kollam in his writings, extracts of which are reproduced in the Travancore Manual.^[3] Huge number of cloths, vegetables, stationary, pharmaceuticals, spices wholesale-retail dealers are doing business in the downtown area of this old industrial city. So many hotels are also there in the downtown area.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7] Proximity with the Kollam Port is making this area one of the biggest business centres in India. It also contains buildings of the Kollam Municipal Corporation.

Aerial view of Downtown Kollam & Thangassery coastal area

Big Bazaar & Pharma City in Downtown Kollam

Nowadays Downtown Kollam is one of the biggest central business districts in the state of Kerala. The area is very famous for its rich trade history & culture. Famous Main Road in Kollam city is leading through the center of this downtown business district of Old Quilon.^[8]^[9] The north-south area of this downtown is popularly known as Big bazaar. As the name indicates, it is the biggest bazaar in city of Kollam. So many rice, spice, cloth merchants are doing business in Big bazaar area.^[10]^[11]

The area behind Kollam District hospital is known as Pharma city. So many Pharma & Surgical Distributors are there in Pharma city. The place is also a favorite destination of doctors and physicians in Kollam city. A lot of electronics & laptop service centres are also there in Pharma city.^[12]^[13]^[14]