Mylapore is
home to many iconic shops. One of them near the main entrance to the
Kapaleeshwarar temple is the Giri Trading Agency , popularly known as Giri
Stores- a `One stop shop for all
religious products`. Interestingly, Giri stores has its origin not in Chennai
but in Matunga, known in the olden days as the `Little Madras` of Mumbai, where
`Mamis in madisar ( 9 yards)sarees and Mamas in their veshties
were a common sight. One such `Tam Brahm` from Tirupunithura in Kerala,
V K Swarna Gireeshwaran alias Giri, an employee of a company , decided to quit a well paying job in 1951 to start a shop on a `Bakda` ( push cart) near Matunga
Central station, selling religious books. As a spokesman for the Giri family,
T.S.Ranganathan, the youngest son of Giri, whom I interviewed for this article
told me, `There is a story behind, why my father chose to sell religious books. Early in his life he was invited to an Upanayanam ( Sacred Thread) Ceremony of a
friend`s son. He wanted to present the
boy with a book on `Sandhyavandanam`( a brahmin ritual). He could not find a
copy anywhere in Mumbai.. The non
availability of such religious books in Mumbai , gave him an idea to start a business of selling religious books`.
Within a couple of years the shop moved from push cart to a small 200
sq ft space opposite the Matunga Post
office near an Irani Restaurant. In the year 1990 when the owner of the
restaurant decided to close shop he sold the 500 sq.ft space to Giri. Subsequently,
Giri Trading agency, was also selling puja
items, curios, handicrafts, temple jewellery, CDs of religious songs
besides religious, spiritual and self
help books in a number of languages.
Right from the
beginning Giri had decided to take the help of his family in running the shop.
Not only his wife Lakshmi who was a pillar
of strength, but his growing children were also encouraged to help out during their spare times.. This exposure would
ensure that all his nine children were
totally committed to their father`s dream of taking the Sanathana Dharma idea forward.
Giri knew the real big market was in
Chennai. So, in 1971, even while running the shop in Mumbai, he decided to open
a Giri Stores, occupying 300 sq ft space on the ground floor of a building close to Kapaleeshwarar temple in Mylapore,
where even today the shop is located. A few years after the start of the
Chennai shop, Giri moved his family consisting of his wife and the younger children to Chennai leaving behind his elder children to look after the Mumbai shop.
Giri was a great believer in Ayyappa (
one of his sons was called Ayyappan)and never failed to make a trip to
Sabarimala every year. He decided to sell items required by pilgrims visiting Sabarimala
like the black dhoti and other related ritual items. Simultaneously, the shop also began
stocking items required for various other South Indian festivals, besides a
whole range of traditional gift items, curios , handicrafts, temple jewellery and
dance jewellery . Today, the shop
inventory covers 1,50,000 products .
In
1986 the group had established an audio recording studio to produce religious
and Bhakthi music, in house. Ayappan was
in charge of the unit . Ranganathan says, “I used to sing inside
Kapaleeshwar temple and sell cassettes. Then, I sang on All India Radio. My family thought it was a good idea for me
to record for our own business. My first recording, a Shiva Stuti was released on
Shivratri day. From then till now we must have sold about
50,000 copies”.
The shop was by now on a fast growth track. Luckily another 2500 square feet in the same building was available in 1991 which the shop acquired .
A small shop had transformed into a big `organized
religious retail store`, paving the way
for many more such stores in India. Today, the Giri stores has six branches in Mumbai, seven in Chennai besides Kancheepuram,
Madurai, Coimbatore, Secunderabad, Bangalore and Delhi. There is a dealer
representing the group in Australia and an office in Texas U.S.A .There are
over 400 employees working in these
units . It also has a big warehouse occupying 15000 sq.ft area in Mangadu on the
outskirts of Chennai.
As a step towards backward integration,
the group started a publication division
with a printing press attached ; to produce
number of religious books in different languages, again in house. While Meenakshi, one of the sisters based in Chennai looks after the printing
aspect, Raman, elder to Ranganathan takes care of the entire publishing business. In 1990, the shop had already started bringing
out a monthly religious magazine in
Tamil called `Kamakoti` with the blessings of Kanchi Paramacharya, which is continuing to be
published .
Giri passed away in 1998 followed by
his elder son Ayyappan in 1999. Ayyappan
was a driving force and considered a man of ideas in the family. Though
the double loss did affect the group, the surviving children of Giri, who were already involved in the business took charge and
decided to take the legacy of the father forward..
In 2000 the company converted itself into a
private limited company, known as Giri Trading Agency P.Ltd., with all the
siblings owning shares and each in charge
of specific area of activity. Mrs Sharada Prakash the eldest daughter of Giri is
now the Managing Director of the
company.
One of the very popular items marketed
by the group is the `KOLUPADI`- traditionally referred to the specially
assembled racks looking like steps on which idols of variety of gods and
goddesses are displayed during Navarathri festival in Tamil Nadu. Kasi Viswanathan, the only non
graduate in the family but who is an
engineer by instinct, designed a
multipurpose rack system made of plastic which can be assembled as Kolupadis or as office storage racks. This
is a very popular item which accounts for almost 5% of the total sales of the
shop.
Ranganathan says, “Earlier we were known for selling only religious stotra books
and now we are a brand—Giri—identified with Indian culture and tradition.”
How is the company facing the impact of
technology on both their publishing and audio /video business.
Ranganathan, who has a flair for
technology, has an answer` Yes, when the
digital technology came in, our remunerative audio cassette business collapsed and we
were in trouble. We took an early decision to go digital with our audio
business with a number of initiatives. One of them is the concept of aggregating music and offering the
same to the customers through an APP. This allows them to down load any song of their
choice classified under a singer, music director, raga or even thalam . Special Kiosks have been
established in all the Giri shops where the customers can do this and get the
collection transferred to their thumb
drives, for a fee. We have aggregated over 5,00,000 songs in our portfolio
covering, religious, carnatic and even film music. As a content aggregator we are also available
on other platforms like Youtube, I Tunes, Saavn, Spotify etc. besides providing
the `ringtone` facility. Though our products are available through online sites
like Amazon, Flip Kart or Big Basket, they account for only 5% of our sales.
Our major business continues to be at our retail stores. Though there are Web portals trying to sell similar
religious products, the Giri brand has a
lot of credibility in the market”.
The company started using Computerised billing
from as early as 2000 and a few years ago they have also introduced `bar
coding` of their products for better inventory control.
Srinivasan, another sibling is in
charge of the sales of the entire group. Every year he takes a group of staff selected on merit to a trip abroad to participate in a festival at the Kamakshi Temple in HUM,
Germany. In this temple he was instrumental
in installing a 15 ft high statue
of Lord Krishna. The company also has regular training programmes for not only
the staff at all levels but also the family members attending special programmes to keep pace with the
latest developments.
The group runs a family trust called `Lakshmi Giri
Trust`encouraging first time singers in classical and devotional music and
dance. The Trust also supports a few Veda Patashalas in the city.
Very recently the company has acquired the rear portion of the building where the
shop is currently located in Mylapore- increasing the floor space from
6000 sq ft to 11,000 sq ft. A big leap
forward! Giri Stores has now entrance to
the shop from both the Kapaleeshwarar
temple side and from North Mada Street.
Though it has taken over six decades
for Giri stores to reach the enviable position it has reached today, the Giri family
is confident that the long process has only helped to lay a solid foundation
for the business because, `We are not here to just make money. But the whole
family believes in carrying the message of Sanathana Dharma to people. We also believe in giving a contemporary outlook to
our culture and tradition. I am sure that this steadfast belief will help us
to take the company to greater heights in the years to come.`
While many multinational retail groups
are biting the dust in India, it is good
to see a local, religious retail chain doing well .
This article has appeared in the 1-15th
February,2019 issue of Madras Musings
No comments:
Post a Comment