When Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani bought the 262-year-old international toy chain Hamleys–he clearly had a sound financial strategy. With 26 million children born in India each year, accounting for one-fifth of all babies born worldwide, Hamleys‘ purchase was a wise investment.
Arvind Singhal, chairman of Indian retail consultancy–Technopak Advisors–said, “Toys are one category where emotions can outweigh your financial capabilities. From Ambani’s point of view, the visibility of the Hamleys brand has unparalleled potential.”
This same emotional connection has led Ram Chander & Sons Toys or RCS Toys, one of the oldest toy shops in India, to flourish nonstop since 1890. Satish Sundra – the shop’s current owner – had no intention of running this shop. In search of an alternate path – he completed history honors from St Stephen’s College and went on to receive his Senior Cambridge certificate from the University of Cambridge
Dressed in pinstripe shirts and tweed suits, he soon acquired a fluent English accent and became something akin to a ‘brown sahib’. But life had a surprise in store. With his father Raj Sundra’s unexpected demise, Satish was compelled to take over his father’s and grandfather’s business – that of running a small, but well-loved toy store in Connaught Place. “I was a bit of a snobbish young upstart who looked down on everyone else,” said Satish. “But life brought me down to terra firma with a thud. With my father gone – I had no idea what to do. But I received such loyalty and gentle hand-holding from my staff and so much affection and regard from old clients that I got pulled into the world of toys forever.”
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The Beginning
The roots of the RCS family can be traced back a couple of centuries to a region rich in entrepreneurial history. The Shekhawati Churu region of Rajasthan is famous for giving birth to some of India’s most prominent business names – Birla and Bajaj, Poddar and Piramal, Kanoria and Singhania, Oswal and Bhartiya and many more.
This region is home to nearly 25 of India’s top business houses. Satish’s ancestors too were landed money lenders who gave loans to poor farmers. However, once the family migrated out of Churu, it lost its financial lustre and decided to start a toy business mainly because it was a low-investment business. In 1890, they started with a tiny shop floor at Ambala Cantonment. Another store was added to Kasauli in 1928, and the family relocated to their current location in Connaught Place in 1935.
The first few customers were British officers who would bring along their children to buy toys. They were so invested in family time that they would play with the games and toys that they purchased for the kids, such as scrabble, monopoly, darts, and puzzles and go on long cycling trails with the entire family.
Toys were the much-loved accessories that fostered affection and strengthened family bonds, so the toy vendor was an esteemed member of the extended family unit. Alluding to a popular Indian fable, Satish said, “Kahan Raja Bhoj aur Kahan Gangu Teli [a hindi phrase to describe a friendship of a high-status person (king Bhoj) with an ordinary person (Gangu)]. The British held a powerful status, and my grandfather, Ram Chander ji, was a humble man. But there was an unlikely yet special friendship of unequals.”
Slowly, the shop created a name for itself and the Indian royalty as also the prosperous local business families started visiting the store with their children.
Committed to providing their customers with the best leisure possible, Ram Chander and his son Raj would go a long yard to dig the best global toy names, develop links with great brands and lay cables for their regular supply and import. The store had Marklin trains from Germany, John Lund from Sweden, Galt toys from London, Lionel train sets, Guillows Aircrafts and flying models, Flashman, Lilliput, and Pedigree toys from across Europe and even Ideal brand toys from as far as the US.
As the Indian Royalty began to arrive at the shop – niche Indian toys from Amroha and even toys from Channapatna in Karnataka were added. There were Meccano Engineering metal toy sets from Liverpool, Russian dolls, Walkie Talkie dolls, Chad Valley dolls, Magic dolls that were tender to touch and Besty Westy dolls that drank milk and even peed!
Visiting the RCS shop floor was an unforgettable experience for children. The toys would delight them and the store became a place which children began to associate with magic and wonder. It also made parents devoted because the RCS toy store was a place of emotional entanglement with children and nostalgia as the kids grew up.
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Committed to customers
Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi would visit RCS with her two sons— Rajiv and Sanjay. And then a few years later Rajiv Gandhi would take Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi to the same store. This is how it was with Maharani Gayatri Devi, Sharmila Tagore, the Begum of Pataudi, Gujarmal Modi, Raghubir Singh – the founder of Modern School and many more Delhiites.
All the celebrities left their lofty titles and formality at the door and sat on the floor with their children, clapping and whistling as the toys triggered laughter and delight. While the older kids excitedly explored the novel goodies, the staff would smilingly assist in diaper changing and babysitting the smaller kids. No customer was ever asked to pay for bruising or denting toys because the client was important – not their purse.
Satish recalls that when he was quite young, his father asked him to deliver a bicycle to a British officer named Colonel Fox. As Satish was about to turn onto the main road, he fell and both his knees began to bleed. Still, he carried on to deliver the bike to Colonel Fox who immediately applied first aid to the teenager’s injury.
When he returned to the store, Satish’s father had one look at his still bleeding knees and his first reaction was, “I hope you have not delivered a damaged bike to Col Fox!” Only after he talked to Fox and was reassured that the bike was not damaged, did he remember to send off young Satish to the doctor for bandaging. The incident remained with Satish as a lesson in RCS’s commitment to its customers. Satish feels this is the family’s biggest legacy to the next generation of toy sellers at RCS.
This article is a part of a series called BusinessHistories exploring iconic businesses in India that have endured tough times and changing markets. Read all articles here.
(Edited by Tarannum Khan)