Pune's Deo Sports' journey from misnomer to hallmark

Ever heard of a business venture retaining the accidental misspelling of its intended name for over half a century?

The immensely popular Deo Sports shop on Fergusson College Road is one such example. Launched by Surendra Sachdev in 1956, the shop was to carry the shortened version of their
surname and called Dev Sports.

However, the name was wrongly spelled by the painter and Surendra decided against changing it. Thus began the venture that is now a hallmark among sports shops in Pune.

Surendra, originally from Sialkot in Pakistan, came to Pune in the days leading up to the Partition in 1946. Owner of a thriving business in Sialkot that comprised a factory producing sports goods like hockey sticks, cricket bats and footballs among others, Surendra’s life was completely disrupted with the news of the impending Partition.

He left Sialkot and came to Pune in 1946 where he had ancestral property. Having been uprooted from his base and lost his factory, Surendra had to start from scratch in the city. He decided to stick to dealing in sports goods just like he did in Pakistan, and became a supplier. He would source the goods from Jalandhar, Punjab.

At the time, badminton was a very popular sport, having originated in Pune. Most of the revenue came from the sale of badminton rackets, along with cricket bats, hockey sticks and volleyballs.

However, things were not easy in the beginning, as sales were low and finances were dwindling.

Surendra then started supplying his sports goods to colleges where he had good contacts and defence institutions in the city.

After his supply business gained ground, he launched his own sports shop 10 years later in 1956. The business grew steadily in the years that followed, and Surendra’s sons Sanjeev and Deepak joined him in the shop in 1976 and 1981 respectively.

Deepak says of his entrepreneurial journey, “Doing business in the field of sports is in our blood. My brother and I could not imagine doing anything else and promptly joined our father in the shop. Our journey has been very smooth and comfortable and we have enjoyed ourselves through the years.”

Deepak reveals that ever since the brothers came in, the business diversified to include safety helmets in the 1980s and bodybuilding supplements in 1990. “We were the first shop to sell bodybuilding supplements in the city,” he says.

Doing business today is difficult, says Sanjeev, due to intense competition from malls and sports brand outlets. “The clientele is not specific these days, and people have become very brand conscious,” he notes. As a response, they include brands in their shop but people go wherever they get the best deals.

The Sachdevs are looking at just maintaining their business, rather than expand or modify it, because their clients are not clients anymore, but friends.

“The student population has been fond of us in recent times and we have also retained our old clients including families and children that have been coming for generations. We have sustained because of the good guidance of our father and the goodwill of our customers and we will continue to do so for as long as we can,” says Sanjeev with a smile.