These shops in Chennai have almost everything ‘covered’: gardens, cars, camping experiences and industrial machinery

Umbrellas are a victim of “folk association”. They are certainly not the sole preserve of the monsoon with its drippy skies, but that is the period they get busier and therefore, get almost entirely associated with the rains. The tarpaulin shops at Nehru Market on Sydenhams Road in Periamet are busy through the year and get a tad busier when the monsoon is round the corner. But one peek into these tarpaulin shops and there is not a shred of doubt about their all-year relevance. And now, ‘tarpaulin’ seems like a generic term for a whole range of products that offer a protective cover to valuables. These shops sell those green shade nets for gardens, tents for camping, cotton canvas covers, car covers and bags (which are also covers, glorified covers). These bags are not high fashion but are made of heavy-duty material and designed to last. These shops sell these products at wholesale prices for bulk orders; and what they retail comes at prices lower than what you can expect of regular retail stores.

Tarpaulins of various thickness and materials, both determining their prices, are a dominant presence, but one can always shop for more than tarpaulins. 

A tarpaulin shop at Nehru Market on Sydenhams Road in Periamet.

Nehru Market is next door to Anna Market, which is dominated by sale of metal items, many of them massive spare parts that go into the running of industrial machinery. The first few shops at Nehru Market are tarpaulin shops, wholesale and retail, but step inside and the shops selling spare parts for industrial machinery predominate. These two markets are not next door neighbours but closer than that, as united as two intercommunicating rooms with a common door. The tarpaulin shops and those selling used spare parts for industrial machinery exist side by side, by design. 

Anil Kumar of Prakash Trading Company points out that these tarpaulin covers are used to cover machinery, among other things. While out here to purchase metal parts for heavy-duty industrial machinery, someone might pick up tarpaulins too. These shops also draw adventurers who like to camp out in a temporary shelter under the skies. Similarly, those with a green thumb. The green shade nets are for them. 

Anil Kumar notes that almost every shop, the wholesale shops for certain, would have a tailor attached to it. The tents, shade nets and cotton canvas have to be made to order, often. Promptness is a key factor driving success and survival in this business. 

Many of these tarpaulin shops are carryovers from a different era, one pithily defined as “Moore Market”. Following the Moore Market fire in the 1980s, traders fanned out depending on where they were allocated a space. That is how some of the tarpaulin sellers ended up in Nehru Market, managed by Greater Chennai Corporation. 

Anil Kumar shoulders the weight of a legacy: the shop was established by his father Narayan Jha over 50 years ago. He worked alongside his father and brother before their deaths, and now the weight of that legacy is entirely on his shoulders. And he finds it to be excruciatingly heavy not only due to the lack of support from a kindred soul, but also market realities. “Counter sales has dwindled,” says Anil. “Demand has generally fallen with online shopping changing the way customers buy. “ 

So this is where it stands: much of the regular business comes from factories that use the material to cover machinery, as well as from transporters. Anil qualifies that, saying there is still demand for shade nets, tents, car covers and other items but there is huge competition from various quarters. 

The promise of getting items at wholesale rates or even purse-friendly retail rates continues to hold out an attraction for the cost-conscious, and they hit Nehru market. Another shop seller, who does not want to be named, points out that tarpaulins, camping tents and car covers are available at wholesale prices on a section of Walltax Road, largely Ramanan Road and near Elephant Gate Street. But Nehru Market in Sydenhams Road scores on ease of access.

(Old Markets, New Trends is a column that features markets that have continued to retain their hold on people’s mindspace despite the shifting sands of fads. Through entities that have been around for a long time, it seeks to find out what makes these markets tick)