Jog your memory and think of one thing you loved unconditionally as a child. Chances are, it would have something to do with stationery. A pencil with floral prints, a scented eraser, a 3D ruler… Now, imagine if you were raised in a store that dealt with such objects.
S. Ganesh of Mylapore’s Vijaya Stores, which rings in 70 years of its existence, laughs with childlike abandon. “Oh, everyone envied me. They thought all the world’s erasers and pencils were at my disposal. Little did they know I had to create a huge scene before I got a watercolour box or a pencil set!”
The store, which started off on a pyol (thinnai) selling everything from “soap, seepu and kannadi” (soap, combs and mirrors) transformed into the 500 sq ft store it is today on Ramakrishna Mutt Road. As always, it is crowded with children and adults looking for their fix of stationery. A kid tries out a couple of pens on the pad kept ready for such trials. Finally, she decides. “Anna, andha blue pen edunga,” she says.
The staff work with a sense of purpose; there’s little room for delay. Even before the girl is sent off with her blue pen, engineering students wait to buy their fourth semester books. A grandmother chooses a book for her granddaughter.
The scene in Bhagawan Store on Deenadayalu Street, T Nagar, is similar. Children scout for maps and picture sheets, women look for butter paper and ziplock covers, and an office assistant waits to buy commercial stapler and printer cartridges. The store, which was started in 1976 by CT Natarajan, is now manned by his son N Ponraj, 52. The 160 sq ft store stocks almost everything that school kids might need for projects and everyday assignments, folded into racks and shelves. “We know where every product is located; only then can we help customers fast,” he says. Like others, this store too has seen generations of one family come by. Ponraj is delighted that stuff from his store goes as gifts to children and grandchildren living abroad.
And then, he gets back to work. He has to examine some files before choosing which one to stock.
Amritha Venketakrishnan is just 28 and breaks into laughter easily. But, not when she’s speaking stationery. That’s her passion and profession too. She runs Hindustan Trading Company in Royapettah, started by her father PN Venkatakrishnan.
Love for stationery runs deep in the family. Her grandfather started the mother store, which stocked everything from ribbons and cashew to feeding bottles, before it diversified. “Yes, I never had to ask for stationery as a kid; appa would bring it home,” she smiles. But, she delighted in being around the Royapettah store, and earlier, her grandfather’s Kasi Chetty store.
Once Amritha took an active interest, she decided to space things out a bit to make the store more customer-friendly. So, from one store in Royapettah, she has five others in the same complex (Justice Pratap Singh Building), each dealing with a different speciality — canvases, paper, colours, etc. There’s a dedicated online section too (htconline.in) that has delivered to everywhere from Jammu to Kanyakumari. Hindustan also has a range of self-branded sketch books with quality paper.
The art section at Hindustan is expansive and Amritha credits her father with that. She remembers clambering up to find the colour code her father asked her for. Amritha trained to be a journalist, but decided to take forward her father’s legacy. “This is great learning. You have to be clued into trends. That was how we had enough adult colouring books when the craze hit India,” says Amritha, who also runs the Madras Art Store, which focusses on hobby art and craft.
Most stationery store owners have a yen for art, but no time to pursue it. And so, they delight in aiding others further their passion. Ganesh used to be fond of drawing, but there’s simply no time these days. “But, it feels good when you scour the market for the latest and bring a smile on someone’s face.”
Stores have to be on top of their game to bring in new customers — Vijaya Stores is looking at an online wing soon. Amritha says it takes effort to bring in clients when there are other alternatives, including in the online space.
One thing common to most stationery stores is the high level of interaction. That’s something stores strive to maintain even today. Conversations might revolve around an old Reynolds ball pen or an envelope in a particular shade — a spot of intimacy in a world that’s in too much of a rush to stop and look.
The write talk
Most stores have unique terminology. A ruled accounts note is simply called ‘cash rule’
Kids growing up in stationery stores love specifics. It’s never just blue. It’s always cobalt, aquamarine, cerulean, Prussian…
Stores sell anything from erasers for ₹ 1 to a brush for nearly ₹ 40,000
