Chettnad Hardwares

Arcot Road is always jammed with traffic, and our shop at number 172 in Valasaravakkam sits right in the middle of it. We’ve been here for quite some time now. Most of our day is spent behind the counter, helping people find the right screw or a specific tool they need for a home fix. It’s a small place, packed from floor to ceiling with boxes. Sometimes it takes a minute to find exactly where we put something, but we usually know the spot. We get a lot of locals walking in, maybe someone whose tap is leaking or someone trying to paint a room. It’s not a fancy store. There’s no big display or anything like that, just shelves and drawers full of hardware. We keep the doors open so the breeze comes in, but that also brings in the noise from the street. You get used to the sound of the buses and horns after a while. We start our mornings with a quick sweep of the front and then it's just steady work until closing. It’s a simple life. We like talking to the people who live nearby. Every day is a bit different depending on who walks through the door. It’s just a regular hardware shop doing what we can. Sometimes a contractor comes in for a bulk order and that keeps us busy for an hour just counting things out. We don't use fancy computers for everything; sometimes a pen and paper is faster when things get hectic.