Raju Cycle Shop
Introduction.
first visit to cycle shop today and talk to the owner for a while around 30-40 mins and then would sit at the cycle shop to observe the activities around.
Second visit was to the Dosa shop which is very near to the cycle shop.
After the visit -
cycle shop
Yesterday(14th July) i visited the cycle shop and the Dosa guy both but the cycle shop was that helpful and had too many customers on his ways.I thought of asking the customers around and many of them just came either to get a few parts fixed and most of them for came for filling air in tires. from what i could see most of the earnings on the cycle wala was from the workers who used cycle and the school kids. Along with repairing cycles he also worked on scooters to some extent. I don't how he made a living by taking just 1 rs per tire from his customers. Well he asked me to come tomorrow evening where i could be able to talk to him in detail.
next day.
The cycle shop
Raju cycle shop is the one in Yelahanka market where i usually repair my cycle. As the next day i went also there was too much rush and Rajkumar(the owner) was busy with work i thought i should just sit back and observe.
He came from a small village in Hosur and started this shop with his friend who now are equal owners. They pay a monthly rent of 2300 rs and their monthly profit is aroud 6000-8000 which is shared between both of them. Both of them not yet married so they do not have a family to support however Rajkumar sends a fixed amount of money every month back home to his parents as he is the only son.
The cycle shop has been running in this placce since last 4 years and he has not faced any loss in the business yet even though the gross profit made is not much. But he feels it is enough to satisfy his needs as
The dosa shop
first day.
Well in this case the Dosa guy was much more helpful than the cyclewala. The Dosa guy was a resident of a small village near Banglore from the Tumkur district. He discussed a lot about his village and the culture there nd about his family living there.
He has been staying in Banglore since last 10 years and working for the dosa shop since 4 years. Before the Dosa shop he was selling knives and sharpening them and his wife sold peanuts close by. Now the both of them along with his children run the shop.
The shop timing are in the morning from 7:30 to 11 and in the evening from 6 to 9:30. The owner who is also the cook starts his work from 4:30 in the morning to prepare the sambar and chatni and he also sells some idly's and lime rice with special vegetable pulav on Sundays.
He also mentioned that the cost at which he provides his breakfast is enough and affordable for a labor working on daily wages.
He still makes the knifes for his regular customers. He was again busy during this period so i just had a dosa and waited and observed at his shop and will be visiting him again today.
Next day.
he told me about his pricing policy he next day. The priced of his Idly's and Dosa's is the least in this locality. this works for him well as his target audience is the workers and college students. he says they find it he most affordable and have now become his regular customers.
Also he pays a rent of 1700 rs per month and does not earn much of profit but its enough to satisfy his family. Also he initially had to spend only on the dosa stove as he got the remaining vessels from one his friend who gave it to him without charging and a few were donated to him.
He says that a few financial problems keep hitting his way but now he has learnt to live with them.
Reflection.
how people have dreamed differently and where their life has taken them can be learnt the best from such people. Dreams always do not come true and the journey through the struggle. how the environment or the surrounding space affect the business and how small shopkeepers also innovate to attract more customers was what i could see through this exercise.
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