Panchsheel Traders

We are located at 133 Canning Street, right where it faces Jackson Lane. If you’ve ever spent any time in this part of Kolkata, you know exactly how busy and loud it gets. It’s a real struggle just to walk down the street some afternoons because of all the laborers, carts, and rickshaws. Our shop is packed tight with goods. We have stuff piled up everywhere because space is at a premium here. We’ve been in this building for a long time, and you can tell by looking at the walls. They could probably use a fresh coat of paint, but we’re usually too busy with customers to get around to it. We deal with all sorts of traders and retailers who come in for wholesale items. There is a lot of shouting and negotiating over prices. That’s just how business is done on Canning Street. We keep our own records in big, heavy ledgers. We haven't really moved over to computers for everything yet. We have a small ceiling fan that barely does anything to keep the heat away during the summer months. Most of our customers are people we’ve known for decades, so it’s a bit like a community. We drink a lot of tea while we work through the orders. The mornings are usually for unloading the new stock that arrives, and the afternoons are for the sales. It gets dark early in these narrow lanes between the tall buildings.