Bombay Beads Centre

Our shop is at 79/81 on the first floor along the 7th Cross of Margosa Road in Bhuleshwar. If you know this area, you know how packed it gets with shoppers and vendors selling just about everything. We focus on beads, so our shelves are lined with thousands of little jars and packets. It can be a bit overwhelming to look at if you aren't used to it. We spend hours every day weighing out small amounts and putting them into little plastic bags for people. The floor is usually covered in a few stray beads that escaped, no matter how much we sweep. It’s a bright space because we need to see the tiny holes in the beads to make sure they are good. Working in Bhuleshwar means dealing with the heat and the constant shouting from the street below, but you eventually stop noticing it. We have a couple of old fans that hum all day long to keep the air moving. People come in looking for very specific things, and we have to dig through the back shelves to find exactly what they want. It’s a lot of standing and reaching, and my back usually aches a bit by the time we close up. We’ve been here for a long time and have seen the neighborhood change, but the beads stay pretty much the same. It’s a simple life of counting and sorting, and we’re quite content with that.