For every East Village business that’s opening or closing, dozens are quietly making it. Here’s one of them: Essex Card Shop

Twelve years ago, Jayant Patel came to the East Village for cheaper rent (yes, your read that correctly), after the monthly dues were hiked at his 12-year-old stationery store at 116th Street and Broadway. Back then, the rent in the city-owned building at 39 Avenue A was $3,500. It’s now $5,800, and the modest paper store has expanded to include items like printer cartridges, socks and baby clothes. Five years ago, Mr. Patel, who is Indian, partnered with M. Aslam, a Pakistani immigrant. Not only are the two of them making it at Essex Card Shop (and at their other store, Village Stationery on LaGuardia Place), but as Mr. Patel revealed to The Local, a movie is being made about his life story.

There is a lot of quirkiness in here, with thoughtful quotations you’ve pasted here on the counter. What is your philosophy on life?

Mr. Patel: My philosophy is “truth, love, and honesty.” It’s universal. Trust is something everyone follows. If you are truthful then people will trust you. I see myself as Muslim, Hindu, Christian, all in one. If you’re nice to people, people are friendly. People in New York are good. New York is a tough town, but it’s full of good people if you stop and experience it. Life is hard and not always comfortable. Struggle makes you strong and I don’t mind it.

Why do you think your business has been so successful?

Mr. Patel: My partner and I are very good at budgeting. We keep things simple. When you are passionate and work hard at something you are bound to succeed.

Have you had to constantly expand the merchandise to stay relevant to the consumer?

Mr. Patel: Yes, we have to. But it is more my partner than me. He brings in all kinds of new things. He introduced all those cute baby clothes and lines of different baby things. I just brought in socks. I sell more socks than stationery sometimes.

Is it hard to keep up with the rent?

Mr. Patel: It’s not so hard to make the rent. We have more stuff we sell now. We started with fewer things and now we have more. It’s not so easy, of course. We had a ten-year lease. Then in 2010 the city would only give us a five-year lease. The city is doing that to a lot of businesses, some for even less than five years.

Mr. Aslam: We carry higher-end things like printer cartridges. Those probably sell the best. We sell the most of those. We are also now open seven days a week. Before we were five days. We have long hours of 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.  We are only closed Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Year’s.

Mr. Patel: He makes me work an extra one-hour, you see! He’s my partner, so what can I do? I have to listen to him. He’s my boss now!

How did you two meet?

Mr. Patel: When he came from Pakistan to this country, from day one he was with me managing the store. He was recommended to me by my brother-in-law’s friend.

It’s great to see a Pakistani and Indian friendship.

Mr. Patel: Politics destroy nations, not businesses. There is no politics here, just business and friendship. Normal people, ordinary people don’t have those problems. It is just the leaders who care about this nonsense. I made him partner maybe about five years ago because I wanted to retire. I wanted him to take over the whole thing. But after one year I couldn’t handle the retirement, so I came back and we became partners.

How does your partnership work?

Mr. Patel: We talk everyday. If we can’t meet in person, we talk on the phone. We are very close to each other. I let him decide. Whatever he says goes. I don’t want to make the big decisions anymore.

Lots of businesses on your block have disappeared. What’s gone wrong on this block in particular?

Mr. Patel: It’s the rent. The competition is high and the rent is too high for these businesses. People don’t have the money. I don’t think anyone is doing anything wrong, I think people are just spending less and less money in this economy so will only buy things that are required.

Mr. Aslam: That’s why we sell these cheap socks really well. They don’t cost much and people need socks.

How do you feel about those big-box competitors like Kinko’s and Staples?

Mr. Patel: Nobody likes Kinko’s. People like us more. Kinko’s isn’t so good. Their copiers are broken all the time. People in there don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t give the personal customer service that we do. Here, we give personal service to all our customers.

Being in the stationery business, are you a writer yourself?

Mr. Aslam: Me no, but he is a writer. He wrote a book.

Mr. Patel: I wrote a book and I made a movie. It’s coming into the theaters on Sept. 7. It’s called “Desperate Endeavors.”  The trailer of the movie is online. I wrote the book about my experience coming to this country as an immigrant from India and what I’ve been through to get to where I am now and what I learned from my spiritual teacher in India. It’s about how one should live well and the art of living.

How did this all come about?

Mr. Patel: I did not sell the book. I did not market it. I just gave it to my customers here. Many of my readers liked it so much. A TV production guy I gave the book to said he doesn’t have time right now when I gave him the book in 2005, but when he has time he wants to make the movie because he likes my story. He made it in 2010.

How long do you plan on staying in business?

Mr. Patel: Well, I am waiting for the results of my movie to decide. I’m not Hollywood, but once my movie succeeds I want to retire. I am 70 years old. I want my partner to take it all on. He will run both of the stores.