Tamil Nadu - Chennai

A range of stationery to choose from this year

— PHOTO: S. THANTHONI

Brisk sales: Customers buying notebooks at a store on Malaya Perumal Street on Tuesday.

CHENNAI: With the new academic year set in begin in a month, it is time to go stationery-shopping.

From pencils and rulers to notebooks covered with brown sheets, a whole lot of things need to be ready before a student’s first day at school. And this year, the market seems flooded with a variety of items from local manufacturers and abroad.

Walk into Bunder Street in Parry’s Corner. With rows of stationery stores on either side, a colourful array of pens, pencils, rulers and pencil cases are bound to catch your attention. Interestingly, several items made in China make their entry into the local market this year.

These items are not just colourful, but are also fairly affordable. Pencils are available from Rs.2 a piece, which cost lesser if bought in tens.

Owner of J.R. Stores, Haji.K. Hakkim, says there has been a significant increase in the number of individual buyers this year.

“Earlier, our sales were largely wholesale. Now, parents bring their children here and buy notebooks and stationery,” he says.

Some parents buy a set of notebooks, pens and pencils to last for an entire academic year.

Since the demand for branded notebooks has increased in the last few years, many stores are now making them available.

However, old timer Sikkanthar Stores, on the parallel Malaya Perumal Street, primarily sells notebooks that they make. Ranging from Rs. 5 to Rs. 12, this store has hard and light bound notebooks, apart from leather-bound ledgers.

Storekeeper Nagoor Pichai says the sale of notebooks has come down in the last few years, as branded notebooks are becoming more popular among students. “Moreover, some schools give their own notebooks or insist that students buy a particular brand,” he adds.

The store, which has been into this business for nearly six decades now, has a set of customers who buy at least one notebook here, as they believe it brings luck.

Brown sheets sold in stores on Bunder Street are also in great demand. Laminated sheets in two shades of brown are available and several new varieties in labels, featuring cartoon characters, are also for sale.

“Big stores in the city charge a lot more for the same goods. If we take the trouble of coming here, we end up saving a lot of money,” said S. Rajeshwari, a regular at Bunder Street.

Affordability being the main attraction, the colourful display of a range of local and foreign items is likely to excite customers. Piles of brand new notebooks and colourful pens and pencils, after all, tend to motivate even the not-so-academically inclined.

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