DO mom & pop stationery stores still hold sway? 

With malls and fancy book stores providing the convenience of one-stop-shop experience and customisation, the future of neighbourhood stationery stores looks bleak
DO mom & pop stationery stores still hold sway? 

CHENNAI: Ten unused handmade notebooks, a big fishbowl filled with confetti and multi-coloured writing accessories, pastel highlighters, a mega-pack of fine liners, Japanese gel pens, cutesy pocket journals, a desk calendar filled with scribbles, a Washi tape, a Washi tape dispenser, multi-coloured sticky notes.... this is the abundance on Ujwala Salunkhe’s work desk. A stationery tourist at Starmark, Ujwala finds new comrades for her desk every week. “There was a time when weekends meant spending time at my favourite stationery store, testing every new pen, examining every new book. But in the last year, I found that many bookstores and lifestyle stores are a haven for a stationery addict like me. I find the cutest accessories which are difficult to get in a regular stationery store,” says Salunkhe, an advertising professional.

With malls and book stores providing the convenience of one-stop-shop experience, customisation and even good deals, the neighbourhood stationery stores are suffering from the poignancy of obsolescence.  
Foreign and fancy 
“I have a small stationery store near my house but I can’t remember the last time I went there because it has stuff that caters more to school and college-going kids,” says Malathi Krishna. “As a working professional, my needs are different from the sort of stuff available at the store. That’s why I’d much rather visit the Odyssey store on the main road which has pens and books that are more suited to my needs,” she says.

With foreign brands entering the market and providing quality products at relatively reasonable rates, customers are seeking fancy, personalised products. “I didn’t want to pick up another Classmate book or a regular five-subject notebook,” said Shivani M, a first-year college student. “I didn’t even bother visiting the stationery store near my house because I know that this is all I would find if I went there. I went directly to the Miniso store in Express Avenue and found a cute notebook that was very me. I spend most of my time in college and I want to feel good every time I take out my notebook, and that wouldn’t happen if I picked up a regular notebook that everyone else in my class has.”

Even for art and craft supplies, these stores offer the perfect platter of stationery haul. “I have very specific art and craft supplies that I use and those are not available in the smaller stationery stores,” said S Meghana, a fine arts student in a city college. “I end up going to Hindustan Trading Company, Starmark or an online platform at times because there are some good deals available. We have a small stationery store opposite our college which has good supplies but the problem is that they tend to run out of supplies very quickly because a lot of students rush there for last-minute fixes... I’m also someone who loves craft-related products and nothing compares to Itsy Bitsy in that regard. They have a store in Chennai but I have always opted for their online store as they mostly have some sale or the other going on, and it is much more economical.”

So, does this spell the death of the old charming stationery store?
Dwindling customers
“I have been running this store for the last 15 years and business has never been this bad,” said R Srikumaran, who runs a small stationery shop in Purasaiwakkam. “Since my shop is located inside one of the narrow bylanes, it is not easily visible to people who are travelling on the main road. It is only those who know about my shop who come. But these numbers have also started dwindling not just because of online stores and big stationery stores but also because one visit to a large department store gives them

everything from groceries, toiletries to stationery.”
But for stores located strategically near schools and colleges, the steady inflow of business from students is keeping the store afloat. “It is becoming tough to survive,” said the owner of a 30+-year-old stationery store in Kilpauk who did not wish to be named. “Income has decreased so much, and I am just getting by somehow because of the demand from the medical college nearby. Thankfully, my son is settled. He works in an MNC and I had the foresight to give him a good education because I knew there is no future in this business because everything is available online.”
For stationery junkies, we know there is no such thing as enough paper, books, pens, paper clips etc...but the retail renaissance seems to have moved the thrill of this joy to bigger branded stores.

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The New Indian Express
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