The #MadeInNepal movement has been very beneficial for local Nepali producers. Fortunately, it has also been a hit among both Nepali and foreign customers. To meet the growing demand for these products, many weekly markets and #MadeInNepal concept stores have been opening up in Kathmandu valley. One such store is Maya Ko Chino that was launched in November last year.
It all started because Malika Shrestha, the owner of Maya Ko Chino, wanted to sell her mother, Janani Shrestha’s knitted products in the Nepali market. She approached other stores that worked with the #MadeInNepal concept and they featured Janani's products at their outlets but this did not sit well with Malika because the renting price those stores offered were very high. And since her mother’s creations were neither produced in large scale nor generated big amounts of profits, she had to scrap the contract after a few months because they could not really afford it.
That was when Malika decided to open up something on her own to help other local Nepali producers who wanted to sell their creations but coudn’t really afford to feature their products at expensive #MadeInNepal concept stores. She proposed the idea to her parents who let her build an outlet for the store at an unused land they owned in Jhamsikhel in Lalitpur.
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Maya Ko Chino started out displaying only a handful of items including Janani’s knitted stuff and Thamel bags. It took about a month and a half for Malika to convince enough producers to feature there products at Maya Ko Chino because everyone was skeptical on how well Malika had researched and analyzed the market to actually have customers buy things at Maya Ko Chino.
“Although the Jhamsikhel area is known for similar stores, the producers were still not convinced that their products would sell from my store. I actually displayed a bunch of producers for about a month and half without any charges to prove to them that I really could sell their products at Maya Ko Chino,” says Malika.
Besides running Maya Ko Chino, Malika is also a freelance trekking guide. She studied hospitality, tourism, and marketing during her bachelors and worked as a manager at Karma Coffee for almost four years. She had joined an institute to study tourism for her masters’ but had to drop out during her second semester because of her hectic work schedule. However, she plans to complete her masters sometime in the future, once Maya Ko Chino can run without much micromanagement and her trekking assignments permit her to.
During the trekking season, Malika is out on the mountains and cannot give time to Maya Ko Chino. Rubina Shrestha and Gracy Limbu are the ones who manage the store when Malika’s away. Her father, Satya Om Dulal Shrestha, also checks in frequently to see how the store is running and assists Rubina and Gracy if they encounter problems of any sort
The store has a very vintage and bohemian vibe because of its decor and Malika mentions that she looked through Pinterest to decide on a style and vibe for the store. She approached a carpenter in her neighborhood with the picture of the furniture she wanted to put at her store and he created all the pieces accordingly.
Malika is planning on expanding the space sometime in the near future. “I want to add in a working space and a coffee area within Maya Ko Chino so that people can actually come here, enjoy a cup of coffee, browse through our products, and work on their own projects too. We will probably add another floor to this building to create space for this idea,” she says.
Maya Ko Chino will also have a new line of in-house durable bags made by recycling tyres. Malika has already been working on this project for about two months but she reveals that people do not really want to work with recycled products. “Although it’s been difficult finding someone willing to work with recycled tyres rather than leather, the line is still in the making. It will be released sometime this year,” she concludes.
