Today is 25th of December 2010, Christmas is being celebrated around the globe by millions and I celebrated it by visiting Abdul Rehman Street. Let me just fill you up with what this place is and the importance of this place.
Ever wondered how would a street overcrowded with people, hardly any space to walk, hustling and bustling with goods and carriers, parked with vehicles around both the sides would look and feel like? Well welcome to Abdul Rehman Street located in the heart of South Bombay (now known as South Mumbai or Island City). The moment you enter the street, you will see scores of shops with different products and items lined up in front of the shop. Every shop can be termed as a class in itself with some of them having been there for almost over 30-40 years or more.
You will find everything that you need in this place, from the small things that you need in your day to day affairs like bags, keychain, wallets, pens, stationary and so on, to jewelries which are made out of true Gold, Silver, Platinum to those which are imitations that would make the real ones loose shine in front of them. The place is a mecca for people like me who want to start something on our own and are looking out to scout the market for valuable ideas and methods of operating knowledge.
The amount of knowledge one single person can garner just by visiting in and around here is amazing. So many offerings by so many individuals make’s your mind go crazy and more importantly helps you understand market and create strategies that would help you in every aspect of business and life.
So coming back to my visit of the day, well first I went down to my brother-in-law’s shop located suitably at one of the best locations on the street. The place offers some of the best products in their category and does help you understand the things that work in their industry and other industries. The most amazing thing that struck me was the fact, they deal only big. You go there and say I want one piece and they will say, “We are sorry but we need an order of atleast 1000 pieces minimum” I was shocked to learn the fact that every deal struck there is more than this, way more and the best part is they earn big bucks. In a span of 1 hour in the shop I learnt things which would have taken me 1-2 years to understand on my own.
The next stop for us was the shop just infront of the one we were in right now, the shop is huge. So huge that it could make some of the better shops in the upscale malls a run for their money in both aspect of looks and space. They deal in a segment which is related to women, and again I was in for the same surprise the only amounts they deal in are big ones. No small ones here too. Slowly and steadily I understood and recalled what I had heard and learnt over the years at my grandfather’s shop about how this place operates and the kind of things that happen here.
The next stop for me was a Bag shop. As a common guy in the city of Mumbai you would just see a bag and buy it. At least that’s what I used to do for quite some time. But the bag shop visit completely changed that for me. The amount of variety in this field itself is immense. Even the same type and size of bag is different by the kind of material that is used and the pricing differs according to this also. A bag which looks the same to a commoner would be different with different pricing and you wouldn’t even suspect that the one I have would be 3-4 times higher priced and better in quality then the one which you would have which looks the same.
I was amazed by this experience of variety, business, operations and so many other things that come into play in some of the most common and most widely day to day activities. The learning which is imparted by these individuals is much better than some of the MBA’s and MNC heads that I have met over the years. And trust me these guys know more and can do more, even if the knowledge is limited to the stream of work they are in.
At the end, I came out of the street with loads of different product samples in my hand and loads of bags in the other. In some ways it was more of learning experience for me then a buying spree of samples. I have made up my mind of going and visiting this place as much as I can and learn what I could from these guys because the learning and knowledge would make me a much better businessman then what I am right now.
Regards,
Tejas Shah
(TMS.Shammie)
Twitter: tejas 986
Linkedin: Tejas Shah
Facebook: TMS Shammie
