Its 4.30 pm and the ribbon at the entrance of the newly-renovated J M Pacheco Textile Dealers shop is set to be cut by the Parish Priest of Grace Church, Margao. An excited Luis and Ninette, along with their son Jude Pacheco, are eager to kick start business after the place was closed down for renovations for over four months. Close on their heels is an age-old customer waiting to buy fabric to stitch her Christmas dress with just over two months to the occasion.
Luis’ brother Nelson recalls how his grandfather had a tailoring and cutting outlet in Bombay and supplied fabrics to the Army in the 1920s and 30s before moving to Goa to start J M Pacheco which was well known for its tecidos (Portuguese for fabric).
“My father, Jose Manuel Pacheco, was a 2nd generation entrepreneur and started this place along with my grandfather and today my nephew Jude in his 30s is the fourth generation entrepreneur who continues this legacy of our business which started in the opposite Olympia building before we moved here. Initially we brought fabrics from Japan and now we get them globally,” explains Nelson.
Luis, amongst the Pacheco brothers more active in the business and has been at the counter for over 40 years along with his wife Ninette at the J M Pacheco Cloth shop which was known as Comerciante de Tecidos before liberation also has a lot of share about his experiences.
“Be it weddings and feasts and Christmas and Easter, Goans from all over Margao and all the villages of Salcete and the neighboring areas came to us to buy materials. And it’s a very special bond we share with each individual and family. We keep in mind their preferences, their choice of colours, the fabric they are comfortable with and their budgets that we’re familiar with and we offer them what we can accordingly. It’s a very personal business for us,” explains Luis.
Similarly Ninette, who for over 25 years customizes, designs and stitches and takes bridal and stitching orders recalls how they were one of the only two cloth shops in Margao for many decades and now there are more than 15 outlets but still customers are loyal to them.
“Earlier my customers stitched an outfit for an occasion like a feast or for a wedding or for Christmas but today people don’t need an occasion, they stitch outfits every month and that’s the demand we have to meet to provide fabrics or even in terms of design orders but we’re always accommodating to our clients.”
Ninette tells us NRIs, foreign tourists, school uniform fabrics or be it any need, J M Pacheco has always seen a plethora of customers and it’s a very special experience to cater to people’s fashion and tastes. Ninette also tells us how she and the entire family tour across the world annually to learn and shop for newer fabrics which are demanded and how business is dynamic and robust.
Jude who’s been instrumental in the renovation explains how he’s heard stories of his grandfather sitting on the floor at the shop and serving customers in the 1930s and how he’s father changed to the counter system a few years later.
“When I stepped into the business which is a decade ago, I realized that people want a feel of the fabric and want a larger display shelf and hence the counter didn’t work anymore, the need was to get into smaller counters and more display shelves,” he said.
Jude explains how he faces competition from readymade outlets and online shopping but how providing a choice of global fabrics, lace and other materials and giving customer a feel of the fabric helps them to stay relevant in this business.
“People tell me as young daughters they peered over counters as their mothers bought fabric from our shop and how they’re back to purchase fabric while their granddaughters peer over our counters. This has been our journey,” asserted Jude.
Jude adds that people like designs and displays online but most often the quality of the fabric or the feel of the fabric lets them down and that’s what they offer at the shop. “I learnt so much from my father of people management. How he mixes fabrics to people’s choice, how he know the preferences of so many women and how he remembers their previous buys and how he works within their budgets. Family businesses and the world of fabrics have a lot to do with experience,” he says.
Only the best survive is Luis’ lines as he continues to do business and is glad that he has added new age lighting and an additional upstairs to his business. Luis and his family of Ninette and his brother Nelson and Nelson’s wife Betty are people who bring joy and smiles on the faces of many women in Salcete as they assist them in their fashion needs.
