Shri Balaji Traders

Our shop is right on Jail Road. If you know the area, you know how busy it gets, especially on the weekends. We’ve been here for years, and the store is filled to the brim with all sorts of things. We are traders, so we buy and sell whatever is in demand at the time. It’s a bit messy inside, with bags and boxes stacked up high. We don't have a fancy display or anything. People just come in and ask for what they need. If we have it, we pull it off the shelf. If we don’t, we tell them when it’s coming in. My brother and I run the place mostly. We don't use any fancy computer systems for the inventory; we mostly just know what’s there by looking. It’s a lot of standing around and talking to customers. Some of them have been coming to us since we first opened. We don't have a big mission statement. We just want to sell good stuff at a fair price and make enough to keep the lights on. The noise from the traffic on Jail Road is something you just stop hearing after a while. It’s just part of the background. We open early and stay until the last customer leaves. It’s a simple life, but it’s ours, and we’re happy to be part of the market here. We like the routine. It gives us something to do and we enjoy meeting all kinds of people.