The Bombay Store has witnessed the freedom struggle

By Shruti Chakraborty

When anyone says entrepreneurship is a part of our history or is in our genes, do you connect entrepreneurship to having been a part of our freedom struggle as well? Imagine going to a store that has been a part of India’s Swadeshi Movement. Not something you expect to find outside a museum, right? Welcome to The Bombay Store, whose founder and first director was Lokmanya Tilak. The first store was visited by the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Vijayalakshmi Pandit. A rich lineage
The Bombay Store was founded in 1906 and was originally called the Bombay Swadeshi Cooperative Stores Co. Ltd.. It was a joint stock company that was founded to promote the sale of Indian products. Amongst its first set of directors was also Ratanji Jamsetji Tata, Dwarkadas Dharamsey and other prominent people of the time. The first store was opened in what is now the Times of India building and was inaugurated by Dadabhai Naoroji. The company expanded rapidly as the Swadeshi movement grew. Outlets were opened in a number of other cities and manufacturers were producing Indian-made goods to sell through the store. With time, as the Swadeshi movement lost significance and the economy changed, most outlets were shut down. The only operational outlet was in Mumbai (then Bombay), which is currently where the store stands, in Fort since 1938. Asim Dalal, Managing Director of the company now known as The Bombay Store says, “I remember coming to the store often with my grandfather as a child and finding it fascinating. One day, my father informed me that we had some shares in the company.” The company was one of the first retail organizations to be listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The new face
In 1991, the Dalal family bought a majority stake in the company and has been managing it ever since. From a single store, it has now grown to as many as 12 outlets located in Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and Goa. Until the early 90s, the store was still known as the Bombay Swadeshi Store. A few years after the Dalal family bought the company, it was renamed as The Bombay Store. “With globalization having swept the world, we realized that the approach to how the store was run had to change. Before we revamped the store, many perceived it as a government-run emporium,” Dalal recollects. The Bombay Store changed the traditional set up it was operating then with people manning counters, to the current self-service format. Explaining how the Dalal family revolutionized the store, he says, “We also brought in design experts from National Institute of Design (NID) and National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), expanded the product offering and made the store spacious, wherein customers could walk in and shop on their own.” The company tries to remain true to its essence and sells only Indian products crafted by artisans and Indian manufacturers. Besides handicrafts and artifacts, the store also sells furniture, clothes and fashion accessories. Taking it forward
Bejan Barucha, President-Operations, The Bombay Store, says the biggest challenge for the company is in dealing with artisans and small producers because it prevents them from having the advantages of mass-produced goods. “If a customer buys a product from us and wants another exactly like that, it is sometimes a challenge to provide it,” he admits. The products are mostly sourced from parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, West Bengal, Agra in Uttar Pradesh and other parts of north India. “We try and deal with manufacturers or dealers who work with artisans and tribals, instead of dealing with the latter directly, as most of them cannot provide the quantities we need as we try to scale. Also, it becomes easier to deal with the artisans’ requirements such as raw material, manpower etc.,” informs Dalal. The Bombay Store has a wide range of products across the price spectrum ranging from Rs. 100 for a key chain to Rs. 1.3-1.4 lakh for a Pashmina shawl or a silk carpet. While the plan is to expand to newer locations, the company faces similar challenges like most others in the retail industry. Dalal says, “The rentals are high and often unreasonable. Looking for the right place is important for us.” The Bombay Store has set up outlets in malls and has one located at the Mumbai Airport. This, Dalal says, brings them the advantage of not having to look for customers. Since the products now appeal to expatriates and people looking for souvenirs, travel retail is an ideal way for them to go. Setting up a 1000-square foot store at the malls costs anywhere between Rs. 25 lakh and Rs. 30 lakh. Including the merchandise, the setup cost of a single 1,000 sq ft store is Rs. 50 lakh. The flagship store of the company is spread over 10,000 square feet. The company is looking to add another store each in Mumbai and Bengaluru. It has not yet expanded to Delhi and NCR or the eastern part of the country. Dalal reasons a lot of their products come from these regions and there are a number of retailers selling similar products in those areas. “We plan to expand to Delhi once we can customize our product offerings to fit the preferences of the local consumers and then widen our product portfolio.” Nurturing a startup
To deal with the problem of the high cost of brick-and-mortar stores, the company has begun to sell online since October. It also launched its brand The Elephant Company, which makes products targeted at the youth, on a store-in-store model in February 2011. The Elephant Company, Dalal explains, will function as a separate business from The Bombay Store. “It is like our startup venture.” While it has started by setting up kiosks within The Bombay Store premises, the plan is to expand The Elephant Company separately. The company is debt-free so far, Dalal informs. They are, however, looking to raise equity capital for The Elephant Company, which will have outlets along with an e-commerce model. So far the going has been smooth. Last year, The Bombay Store clocked in a turnover of `27 crore, excluding revenue from The Elephant Company. “This year we are targeting a topline of Rs. 35 crore,” Dalal says. Legacy is clearly good business as well. © Entrepreneur India January 2013
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