Anand Leather Company

Our place is on the first floor on Naraya Chetty Street. This is in the Periya Medu area, specifically near Cheeni. It’s an area known for leather, so we fit right in with the surroundings. The street is always busy with carts and people carrying hides back and forth. We have a decent sized space upstairs. It’s a bit cooler up there than on the street level during the hot months. We focus on raw leather and some finished pieces for customers. We spend our days grading the skins and sorting them by quality for different uses. It’s a lot of manual work and lifting. My hands are always a bit stained from the dyes we use. We’ve been here for many years. The building is old but it holds up well enough for what we need. We know most of the other dealers on Naraya Chetty Street. We have tea together in the afternoons when things slow down. We don't have a website or do much on the computer at all. Most of our business is done face-to-face or over the phone. We like it that way. It’s more personal and you get to know who you’re selling to. Sometimes the smell of the tanning process from nearby can be very strong. You stop noticing it after an hour. We just focus on the leather. It’s what we’ve always done.