Billing for your footwear shop in Andhra Pradesh
Pairs by size and colour, a strap mended at the counter and the festival buying, all on one bill.
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Pond hands' boots counted by size, the children's festival pairs, a mended strap on the bill
Twelve pond hands' boots for one farmer, answered at the counter
A farmer comes for boots for twelve pond hands. You tell him on the spot which sizes you hold today and which you will send for, so he is not left waiting at the counter and the hands have their boots when the work starts.
The children's new pairs are counted before Ugadi and Sankranti
Before the festivals a family buys new pairs for every child, and the small sizes go first. Count the pairs of each size on the phone a week before. The order goes to the maker in time, and the child who is promised a new pair for the festival is not told that the size is finished.
A mended strap with a record, and the customer who comes back for the other
A strap mended at the counter costs thread and glue, and the notebook has no place for it. Put it on the bill with a small charge and the job has a record. The customer who comes back for the other strap finds the first mending written down, with its day, and does not have to explain.
Ponds, mango carts and orchards: whose feet the shop shoes
A footwear shop shoes the farm, the pond and the market, and the feet that come in depend on the work of the district.
- Shrimp farmers in Nellore district depend on export demand, and in November 2022 shrimp prices fell there as exports dropped. Pond work is wet work, and wet work wears out rubber.
- Nunna Mango Market, on the edge of Vijayawada, gets its mangoes from farmers of NTR, Eluru and Krishna districts. A market that early and that crowded is hard on the feet of everyone who works it.
- Anantapur grows bananas, sweet oranges, mangoes and pomegranates, and the Collector said in 2025 that 10.70 lakh tonnes went to northern states. Orchard workers walk all day on dry ground.
Why a wet month sells rubber, a dry month sells leather, and every pair has a size
The wet months sell rubber and the dry months sell leather
On the coast and in the fields, the rain changes what people wear. Rubber chappals go first when the ground is wet, and the leather pairs wait on the shelf. When the weather turns again the leather moves and the rubber sits. A shop that ordered for one season in the next one is stuck with the wrong stock.
The orchard owner buys chappals for all his workers at once
At the start of the season, the owner of a mango orchard or a shrimp pond comes in to buy chappals for everyone who works for him. It is a large order of one kind in many sizes, and he wants to pay after the harvest has sold. The notebook has no place for an order that big, and the pairs leave the shelf before the line is written.
A broken strap at the counter
People bring an old pair with a strap that has come off, or a sole that has loosened, and ask if you can fix it while they wait. The job is small and brings the customer back, but it has no place in the notebook. The money goes into the cash box and the cost of the thread and glue into nowhere.
What a footwear counter in Andhra Pradesh counts by size and colour
Low stock warnings
A warning when the rubber chappals are down to the last few in the weeks before the first rain, while the maker can still reach you.
Orders to suppliers
A lot of rubber chappals ordered from the maker by phone, with the sizes noted as each box is opened.
Credit book (khata)
A page for the farm owner who takes chappals for his workers now and pays after the harvest has sold.
Questions from footwear shops in Andhra Pradesh
The orchard owner sends his foreman for thirty pairs of one chappal. Whose page does the bill go on?
The owner's, since he pays. The foreman only carries the pairs home. The bill shows each size and its count, so the foreman can check the pairs at the counter against it before he leaves with them.
The rubber chappals sit all dry season, then the rain comes. Where do I keep them so I know what I hold?
Keep the rubber pairs in the godown as items by size, counted. When the first rain comes, you see the sizes you hold before the first customer asks.
When shrimp prices fall, do the pond hands buy fewer boots? Can I see it in my sales?
Yes. Open the days of a month when prices were low and read how many rubber pairs went, then open the same days of another month and set the two side by side.
A leather cluster at Kothapatnam and a corporation's revamp
The Andhra Pradesh government is setting up a Mega Leather, Footwear and Accessories Cluster of about 537 acres at Kothapatnam in Nellore district, for footwear, footwear components and leather goods. If it grows, more of the pairs on a shop's shelf may be made inside the state.
In May 2023 the Andhra Pradesh social welfare minister announced Rs 65 crore for the leather industry and a revamp of Lidcap, the state leather corporation, which holds land in Vijayawada, Anantapur and Tirupati. A shop that buys from makers in the state deals with a trade that is being rebuilt, and its own records are part of what a maker asks about.