2nd GENERATION SHOPKEEPERS
2nd
GNERATION SHOPKEEPERS
A generation is gradually passing
away who had a different set of ideals, habits, social norms, eating habits,
spending habits etc., etc. They know more about India than what the current
generation has been taught in schools. Volumes can be written on what they know
and practiced, but we shall refer here only to another detail.
They patronised small individual
shops instead of big stores and malls. In these small shops you could get items
of your choice, chat with the owner. There was no necessity to buy. Information
on various topics of the mohalla or its residents or the city was exchanged.
Ideas on how to get over problems were sought and given. It was friendlier.
Rates in these small shops were
reasonable, as the owner charged a small profit margin from everyone whether
known or unknown. His living style was simple, his demands few. The owners
lived simple lives, resisted the mobile age, settled for the small Nokia with
diffidence. His business model was, Low profit- High volumes- ultimate high
gains.
Time went by. Big showrooms and big
business, bigger shops became the order of the day. But I still kept going to
the shops of the older variety. Be it the provisions /kirana store, the
computer shop, the shoe shop, the tailor or the electrical goods shop. Gradually
their sons started helping in the shops. The elder person started taking days
off.
One fine day you find that the
elder person no longer comes to the shop. He is taking it easy at home says the
son. This 2nd generation shall most likely to do either of two
things – continue with the business or close down the shop to go for a job.
If the 2nd Gen has had an
IT education or done his MBA- as most younger people nowadays are doing, his
target is to join a MNC and climb up the corporate ladder, landing a job in the
US of A, the shop would be closed down , put up for sale. Why? He thinks
running a shop is demeaning, below his standard. Being a professional in a MNC
is his dream. What he does not realize that the shop gives independence, more
income etc, which no professional job can give.
If he has been helping his father
out in the shop, then he may continue running the shop with a different set of
ideals. Suddenly you find that the charge on services the shop used to levy has
gone up. A problem solving in the computer now costs about five to six times.
Similarly for tailoring and all other services. Everything is costlier by 50%
or more. The economical range of brands is no longer available. Only the jazzy
variety is being offered. Even if your brand is available, only the extra large
sizes are in stock. Prices have gone up. Economical items are no more
available.
You ask for the particular brand or
size or variety. “Its production has stopped” Or “It’s not being supplied by
the factory” says the new proprietor - the son.
You have to search for shops in
other areas of the city if you want items of your choice. Newer markets do not
stock items of your choice
Why have prices gone up? Why are
economical sizes no longer available? The 2nd generation’s expenses
are more than his father’s. He uses a smart phone costing 20 to 50 thousand
instead of the old Nokia. His clothes and shoes are of the branded variety. He
does his shopping from high end stores or malls. He needs more income from the
shop to sustain his life style. His business model is, low volumes- high profits- catch the big
spenders.
This change is all over, in every
city, in every country. The earlier generation is on the way out, 2nd
generation shopkeepers are taking over.
Yes,You are right. Everywhere it is like this. But still...small shops are still popular among their Loyal customers or oldies, or those who still trust them. But one thing is there...when you visit some small shop, you get a feeling of familiarity with the environment.
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