Sri Venkateshwar Enterprises

Our place is on Guruvappa Chetty Street in Chintaripet. If you know Chennai, you know this area is always crowded with people and carts. We’ve been here at number 62 A for a good number of years now. It’s a small enterprise, mostly handling supplies that people in the neighborhood need for their homes or shops. The shop is narrow and we have metal shelves stacked all the way to the ceiling. It’s a bit of a maze inside if you don't know where things are. We deal with a lot of different things, whatever folks are looking for that week. Sometimes it's hardware, sometimes it's other bits and pieces for repairs. Chintaripet is a place where everyone knows everyone else. We open up early and usually stay late until the last customer leaves. It’s hot most of the year, so we keep the old fan running full speed. The street outside is full of shops just like ours. We don't have a website or anything like that. People just know where we are by walking past. We keep a big ledger on the desk to track everything we buy and sell. It’s an old way of doing things but it works for us. My father started this and now I’m the one here every day. We don’t do any big advertising. Word of mouth is usually enough to keep us busy. It’s just honest work in a busy part of the city. We try to keep things simple.