Billing for your toy shop in Himachal Pradesh
The fair-week rush, the opened box and the child's pocket money, all counted on your phone.
Kangra's visitors, Shimla's bazaars and Hamirpur's villages, as a toy shop hears of them
A toy shop on the hills hears about the families who come to it, and the places they travel from.
- Kangra's economy is mostly farming, with tea a vital crop around Palampur and Baijnath. Bir Billing is a growing hub for ecotourism and aero sports.
- Shimla's main shopping areas are The Mall, Lower Bazaar for daily items, Tibetan Bazaar for imported electronics and fancy items, and Lakkar Bazaar for wooden crafts.
- About 92% of Hamirpur's people live in rural areas and farm, with wheat, barley and gram in rabi, maize and paddy in kharif.
From the opened box as its own item to next fair's order, read from this fair's days
The opened box as an item of its own
Make the opened box a second item next to the new one, with its own rate and its own count. When a child has tried a toy and the box cannot go back as new, move it to the item for opened boxes. The new price stays for the new boxes, and the lower price is written down with a reason.
Marbles and balloons in the cold months, when few children come
In the cold months fewer children come, and a marble or a balloon goes now and then. Counted by the piece, they show how few have gone since the last warm day, so you do not order a new bag of balloons while a bag is still half full.
The spinning tops gone by the third day of the fair
The spinning tops are gone by the third day of the fair, while the other toys are still in the box. Next year they go in the large lot of your order, and the toys that stayed on the shelf go in the small one.
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A week that sells like a month, the box that was opened and a jar of coins
One fair week that sells like a month
In the week of the fair every child in the valley comes to town, each pulling a parent by the sleeve. The shop sells more in those days than in a quiet month. Toys go out of the door faster than you can write them down, and the week ends with a thin pile of slips, a heavy drawer and a shelf you cannot count.
The box that was opened for a child to try
A child asks to see the toy, the box is opened, the child plays, the father says he will think about it, and they leave. Now the shop has an opened box on the shelf. It is not the same as a new one, and if you sell it later at the new price, the next customer notices, and if you sell it cheaper, nothing in your book says why. A battery-run toy is worse, because the child has already pressed the switch twenty times.
Pocket money in coins
Marbles, balloons, whistles and rubber balls go for a few coins each, to children who come in twos and threes after school. No one writes down a marble. At night the jar has coins in it and the shelf has gaps, and you cannot tell if the coins match the gaps. In the cold months, when there are fewer children, the jar is the only record the shop has of how the week went.
What a hill toy shop keeps on the phone, from the fair week to the quiet cold months
Daily reports
Fair week kept day by day, so the line shows the spinning tops gone on the third day while the marbles stay in the box.
Low stock warnings
A warning that the spinning tops are down to the last few on the second day of the fair, while a fresh lot can still be fetched.
Orders to suppliers
Next year's fair order sent in good time, the fast toys in the big lot and the slow ones in the small.
What toy shop owners in Himachal ask
A child switched a battery toy on many times in the shop and the family did not buy it. What do I do with the batteries?
Take a pair off the battery count, as a sale would, and put in a fresh pair before the next customer tries it. The battery count stays true, and the toy is not sold with tired batteries.
The tops ran out on the third day of fair week. Can I order more while the fair is still on?
Yes. When the top's count is low on the phone, send the order to the wholesaler that evening, and note the lot when it comes. The fair is a week, so the order has to go while it still runs.
A toy needs two batteries and I sell them by the pair. Will the battery count go down with each toy?
Only if the batteries are on the bill. Make them an item sold by the pair and put them on the toy's bill as their own line. The pair count then goes down with each toy that leaves.
The Kullu Dasehra stalls and the shops of the town
Traders from different parts of the country set up stalls at Dhalpur for the seven-day Kullu Dasehra festival, and business runs into crores of rupees. A toy shop in the valley sees that week from the other side of the road.
Kullu Dasehra traders often keep their temporary stalls running until Diwali, which causes resentment among local shopkeepers. A shop that is open all year can keep a page for each family that buys from it.