Billing for your toy shop in Ladakh
A felt yak and a wooden car, counted piece by piece, with the visitor's summer and the local child's winter on one phone.
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From the first bus of visitors to the felt yak that sold out in a week
The felt yak that sold out, and the group asked the same day
Every handmade toy is an item with its own count. When the count reaches zero, send the order to the group the same day. A visitor who wants one hears that more will come once the group has made them, and not that you do not know. Sent the same day, the order does not reach the group a week late.
Hand-felted and factory-made, told apart on the bill
Name the hand-felted yak and the factory-made yak as two different items. The visitor who pays more for the handmade one sees that on his bill, and the one who wants a cheap gift for a nephew gets the other. In the evening the report shows how many of each went, and which kind the visitors really chose.
The felt animal that sold out in June, read in the autumn
When the season is over, open the days of the busiest weeks and see which felt animal went first. Tell the women's group in the autumn what to make more of before next June, and what to make less of, while there are still months to make it in.
Souvenirs and woollens on the Leh bazaar, and the small things a child is given
A visitor on the Leh bazaar is looking for something small to carry home, and a toy sits well beside that.
- Leh's Main Bazaar Road sells souvenirs, woollens and turquoise jewellery, and a toy has to earn its place beside them.
Why a Leh toy shop sells a hand-felted yak and a factory car from the same shelf
A hand-felted yak next to a factory car
A women's group brings three felt yaks and a small felt bird, made by hand. The wooden cars and the plastic trains come in a full carton. The handmade pieces arrive in ones and twos, each a little different, and the factory toys arrive in a heap, and the felt ones are the ones a visitor asks about by name. The group comes again when it has more, and nobody can say when.
A felt yak weighs almost nothing and ten fit a bag
The group of walkers wants felt yaks, and a bag has room for ten. A felt yak weighs almost nothing, so the shelf of them can be gone in an afternoon, and the group is still at the counter asking how many are left. The women who make them bring only a few at a time, so a shelf gone in an afternoon stays gone for a fortnight.
The shelf full of yaks and the child who asks for a ball
When the visitors have gone, the toy shop is for local children and their birthdays. The shelf you stocked for the summer stands full of felt animals. A child who comes in from the cold wants a ball or a small car, of which you hold only a few. The shop looks stocked and still cannot give the child what she asks for.
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What a Leh toy shop keeps on one phone
Low stock warnings
A warning when only two felt yaks are left, because the group needs a fortnight to make more, and a walking party will not wait that long.
Bills on your phone
A bill that says hand-felted yak on one line and wooden car on the next, each from its own count, sent to the visitor's phone before the bag is closed.
Daily reports
Today's sales at a glance on a cold January evening, when only a ball or a small car has moved.
Questions Leh toy sellers ask about felt toys, gift bills and the winter shelf
A visitor brings back a felt yak with a split seam. How does the count stay true?
Take it off the count by hand with the day, and add it back when it is sewn, so the count is of yaks you can hand over.
A local family wants a child's birthday gift in January, and the shelf is mostly felt animals. What do I keep for them?
Keep the small things for local birthdays as items of their own: balls, puzzles and small cars. Their count, not the felt animals', tells you what is on hand for a January birthday, and you order those before the road shuts.
The felt toys I make in the winter evenings are ready a few at a time. Can I sell each as I finish it?
Yes. Add each toy as an item and add to its count as you finish one. The summer visitor finds the toy the week it is done, and your winter evenings are already in the stock when the first flight lands.
Felt toys at Dilli Haat and a summer of visitors in Ladakh
Felted wool toys are among the traditional Ladakhi crafts that artisans and self-help groups sell at the yearly Enchanting Ladakh exhibition at Dilli Haat, New Delhi. A felt yak on a Leh shelf comes from the same hands and the same wool, and it sells as a craft, not as a plaything alone. It also means a shop in Leh has a story to tell about each toy, and the item's name on the bill can carry it.
Ladakh received 1,07,740 tourists in June 2026, up 43.48 percent from June 2025, and 2,25,286 tourists in the first six months of 2026. A toy shop in Leh sees most of its year in those weeks, and a single big month can empty a shelf that took a winter to fill.