It is co-owned by Jayant Patel, an Indian immigrant, and M. Aslam, who is from Pakistan. Mr. Patel originally ran the store on the Upper West Side, and re-located to the East Village in 2000, and was soon joined by Mr. Aslam. On the partnership of an Indian and a Pakistani, Mr. Patel said in a 2012 interview, "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."
Patel wrote a memoir about his immigrant experience that was made into a movie called Desperate Endeavors. You can see the trailer here. In that interview, he says he wanted to retire after the success of his movie. Unfortunately, Desperate Endeavors did not set the box office on fire. But the store remains. They had a second business on the next block, a copy shop, which recently shuttered. Hopefully, this store will survive, but I suspect this belongs on my "Before It's Gone" list.
Some last words of wisdom from Jayant Patel (again from that profile: "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."
Local East Village: Making It - Jayant Patel and M. Aslam of Essex Card Shop
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