I walked out of the metro rail onto the
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| Road on the way to Bhagirath Palace |
I wanted answers. I wanted stories. I wanted personal accounts. As I walked towards the first shop, Jeet Electricals, I introduced myself and my propose for being there. I told Mr.Paramjeet, the owner of the shop that I wanted to ask him a few questions, and surprisingly, he complied. No sooner did I ask him a question, than his wife barged into the shop asking me to leave and not allowing her husband to answer any further questions.
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| Shunned expression on the shopkeepers face |
Surprised and slightly disheartened by this attitude, I picked up my book and walked ahead, looking for the next potential interviewee. I was not lucky at the next, almost ten shops. The people were just not ready to answer about anything related to how they sell their things or how they make a profit.
A few of those that did agree to spare a few minutes were very discreet in their responses and were of minimal help to me. As I headed out of 'Padam Shree Electricals',I saw this pleasant looking man, in his fifties, smiling and ushering me into his shop. I was reluctant to go in at first, but nonetheless walked into his shop, called 'Ruby Electricals'. Mr.Joseph Joe, the current owner of the shop led me into his shop and offered me a seat; something no one else had done.
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| Mr. Joseph at his shop, along with a colleague |
I was a little taken aback by this kind gesture. I gladly took the seat and introduced myself and my purpose for being there. Mr.Joseph was slightly advised when I told him that I was from a fashion college and there was there to interview him about his products and sales. At first he politely pointed out that I was in the wrong area, and that I must go to Nayi Sarak to get the right answers to my questions.
After a brief explanation of my project ,I began my interview and asked him about his shop and how it came into being. He told me that the shop we were currently sitting in was ancestral and almost a 50 years old. His father ran it before him, and his father before that. Before he knew it he too was asked to take up the family business; it was all he'd ever seen and it was all he'd ever done, he couldn't think of any other profession that'd have suited him any better.
When asked about his products and business, he said that they were initially wholesalers, but five years back had started retailing too. They sold electrical appliances. All the things that they sold were imported from China. They got their stock seasonally; during summers fans and AC parts were sold the most, while in winters heating elements and emulsion rods were sold. His business, he said ran very well and people usually never came back with problems or complaints.
I wanted to know about how he built his clientele and how he promoted his shop and goods; to which he just smiled and said, "What's in building a clientele?", "Most of our customers have been coming here for over twenty years now, and we get new customers by selling better things and at a better price". The shopkeepers in Chandni Chowk don't believe in promotions and marketing, they think that anyone walking by would be interested in their shop because of the better displays and variety of
products. It was intriguing, since we've always seen hoardings and flyers of big brands and their internal competition for better publicity, but here in this old place no one wanted to go out of the way to sell their things, they just wanted to do good business based on their good products.
Mr. Joseph and told me that it was not an easy task running a shop in such a huge market. Ever now and then a new shop would come up, with better products and there would be immense competition. But this competition was always healthy and helped the older shopkeepers learn about the new products in the market and keep up.
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| A thelawala right in front of the shop |
He excused himself for five minutes as he attended to a customer and asked me to freely look around. I saw that the tiny shop was jam packed, with boxes and cartons filled with appliances. There was hardly any space to breathe, and yet everything was displayed very well and kept near and tidy in the little room. I noticed that towards the back of the room was a hole in the ceiling and a man was moving cartons up there, it appeared to be there small storage room.
Even though so small and stuffy, everything seemed to fit perfectly well together. I walked out of Ruby Electricals, content, and with a book filled with answers.
Until next time!
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