United Hardware Store

Our shop is at 5123, Sirkiwalan Road, right in the middle of Lal Kuan and Hauz Qazi. If you’ve ever been to this part of the city, you know how packed it is. It's a maze of narrow streets and shops selling everything you can imagine. We focus on hardware. We've got bins and drawers full of screws, nails, and tools. It’s a bit dark inside the shop because the buildings are so close together. We've been here for years, and the store has a certain smell—oil, metal, and old wood. We don't have a fancy computerized system for everything. A lot of it is still done by memory and hand-written notes. We know where the odd-sized bolts are hidden. Customers come in and describe what they need, and we go digging through the shelves to find it. It's a slow process sometimes, but we usually have what they're looking for. The street outside is always full of rickshaws and people carrying heavy loads. It’s a chaotic place, but we like the energy of the market. We aren't trying to be the biggest hardware store in the country. We just want to serve the people who walk through our door every day. We close up when the sun goes down and do it all again the next morning. It’s a simple business, run by people who know their tools and how to find them. We keep the counters clear but the shelves are full.