Sea shells on the Sea Shore of Mamallapuram

Store Name : Selvaraj Sea shells
Owner : Mr. Selvaraj
Items on sale : Shell ornaments, Decorative items and other stone works

History
Mr.Selvaraj opened this sea shells shop on the shores of Mamallapuram around 20 yrs back in the early 90's and this has been his only source of income since then.He started with sea shells based ornaments and decorative items initially and gradually added stone articles to the showcase. During the 2004 Tsunami, the shop was destroyed by the tide and Mr.Selvaraj had lost over Rs.2.5 lakhs of articles and the shop was destroyed as well, he was compensated with a sum of Rs.2000 by the government. Mr.Selvaraj had to start from scratch again with the money he had saved and help from friends and well wishers.I learnt many of the fellow shop keepers then had either relocated or changed their profession post the Tsunami incident but he is one of the strong willed shop keepers who carried on. Kudos to him. Also recently the shop was shifted to a different place as the govt restructured the operation.

Current Operation
The Shop, 10ft by 10ft, is open from morning 9AM to night 9PM. Sales oscillates and its periodical. Sales is at the maximum during evening, ie 5PM to 7PM , weekends and holidays are busier compared to weekdays and the months of November, December, January, April, May and June when Mamallapuram has maximum tourists. With regard to cash flows Mr.Selvaraj gets a minimum sales of Rs.300 per day and maximum of Rs.9000 per day The cheapest article is Rs.20 consisting of shell artifacts and the costliest are stone and shell decorative of Rs.3000. Mr.Selvaraj operates with an average profit margin of 20% and makes a monthly income of Rs.7000 to Rs.20000. Products worth Rs.20 to Rs700 are fast moving ones . He has a good stock and purchases these from fishermen and other handicraft suppliers within the town. Also he updates his shop with new items that comes up in the market. The old articles not sold cannot be returned and still wait in the shop by some taker some day. He is the sole proprietor of Selvaraj Sea Shells shop and the only labor as well.

Future
The future of Selvaraj Sea shells shop looks bleak. Mr.Selvaraj faces financing problem as of today. He and his family rely upon this shop for their living. If Mr.Selvaraj gets a more reliable and higher income job, he is willing to trade this owing to family’s financial position. Mr.Selvaraj is making his children go to school and he doesn’t want his children to get into this business. The shop has a strategic location, on the way to the beach, and has the capacity to pull it big though it has enough competitors. It needs more branding, better make over of the shop to give a better presentation and has unique advantage of bargaining ;), compared to other retails selling similar products
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Harish Murali S
FT 13135