I happened to visit another art shop. The shop is aptly
called ‘Themes and Dreams’; as the first impression that I got of it, was that
of a person shopping for a handbag, that seemed different than the usual ones.
Themes and Dreams hosted a number of products, ranging from
handbags, lockets, imitation jewellery to sculptures. All the products were
neatly exhibited, a few outside the shop to attract the tourists passing by.
The inside of the shop was just as expected from an art gallery, neat and
colourful, with all sorts of items mixed and matched to give the shop a very
refreshing look and feel. The products in the shop ranged vastly in terms of
money as well, I could find a locket of 250 INR to a pashmina shawl whose range
started from 5000 INR. The inventory did not seem to be huge in number, as the
items had to appear to be unique and a number of replicas would not go well
with the sort of products the shop aimed to sell.
The shop is owned by ‘Sahjad’, a middle aged guy originating
from Kashmir, who seemed very customer friendly and was prompt in explaining
how he operates his shop. Currently he was operating the shop alone; however
during the fall season, as the customers increase, he hires one more worker to
assist in the shop.
He started his shop in 2006, initially selling products like
shawls, pashminas, etc. and stuff he could import from Kashmir. As the business
picked up, he started importing products like sculptures, handbags, etc. as he
saw that the demand for such items was prominent among tourists of
Mahabalipuram. He imports his products now mainly from Delhi, Rajasthan and
Kashmir. He is in contact with the wholesalers there and depending upon the
demand of a product, he orders them over a phone call.
He did not have fixed rates for the products, and depending
upon the demand and the bargaining power of the customer, he sells the items.
One interesting thing to note was that the guy was well versed in multiple
languages, including Tamil, English, Hindi to adapt to the local crowd and even
a couple of foreign languages, as a large chunk of his customer base were
foreign tourists, and he believed in building a connection with them, enabling
him to have return business.
-Sunny (FT13178)
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