Many buildings that once used to be durbars and palaces around Kathmandu are being renovated and utilized for different purposes these days. While a majority of them house government offices, Baber Mahal Revisited is an oddity that is being operated as a commercial complex with a bunch of stores and restaurants within its premises. Everything Nepali, a concept store that was launched early this year by Deeptangshu Thapa and Prasanna Basnet, is one of the many stores within the vibrant space.
It was during a visit to Baber Mahal Revisited about eight months ago that Thapa and Basnet – who were introduced to each other through their husbands – came across an empty space that was up for rent and immediately decided to do something with it. Inspired by the vibe of the place, they thought opening a concept store that sold only made in Nepal products would make perfect sense. Also, surprisingly among the many businesses that were operating at Baber Mahal Revisited, a concept store wasn’t one.
“A lot of expats and foreigners visit the area. They’re always looking for little things that represent Nepal to take back with them as souvenirs and gifts,” says Thapa. She further explains that since selling products of a single brand wouldn’t suffice to keep the business running, they planned to bring together as many entrepreneurs as they could for the store and give them a new platform to showcase their products.
Thamel not benefitting as expected from decision to keep it ope...
However, something not a lot of people know about the concept store is how everything promoted here are from businesses led by women. Since both the founders of Everything Nepali are women, they figured focusing on women led brands would be a good way to empower and support rising female entrepreneurs.
During the first two months, Everything Nepali only featured products from two brands – one of which was Basnet’s other business venture, Cotton Mill. Basnet and Thapa utilized this time to plan the set up of the store and work on other minor details that needed ironing out. Thapa says that because a number of concept stores are opening up in Nepal these days, many small scale brands are a little hesitant to associate themselves with new stores of this kind as their products get sold out very quickly and they often don’t have enough people working for them to restock.
However, over time, they approached and were approached by more brands and currently, the store sells products from 10 different brands including Kaleen Carpets, Nuga: Essence, a natural cosmetics brand, Mithila House, a brand that hand paints Mithila art on a range of products, bags and silver jewelry from Amrita Craft, Supply Support, a brand selling everyday goodies that portrays Nepal in some form, Cotton Mill, Eka Deshma, a clothing brand, House of Palettes, Tyre Treasure and their most recent addition, Juneli Women, a brand that crafts jewelry and various other knickknacks out of beads.
Even though the inflow of local customers is steadily increasing these days, the majority of Everything Nepali’s customers are still foreigners. Thapa reveals that she’s happy to see more and more Nepalis supporting and promoting made in Nepal products but also laments that the store still gets quite a few Nepalis who leave criticizing the price of their products. She says that because all the businesses they promote are small scale and almost all of them produce handmade goods, it’s only natural for the prices to be slightly higher than those of similar products manufactured at larger companies that use machines.
“I think people should appreciate the fact that products of such high quality are being made in Nepal. More people should be educated about the made in Nepal movement as it’s only through the support of fellow Nepalis that these small startups will grow. And that, in turn, will boost the country’s economy,” says Thapa.
Although Everything Nepali is Thapa’s first business venture, she says that she enjoys operating it. She also teaches brand management to bachelor level students and reveals that she utilizes her understanding of the subject to promote Everything Nepali. “I’ve always wanted to own something. So, having my own business and looking after it has been a wonderful experience,” says Thapa adding that just seeing people walk in and look at the featured products with interest makes her very happy.
In the future, Thapa and Basnet are planning to make Everything Nepali bigger and better, in whatever way they possibly can. Currently, though they are only promoting their store through social media, Thapa claims that their business is gaining traction through customers who leave the store satisfied with their purchases. Thapa reveals that Everything Nepali is also open to more brands who want to rent a space at their store and says that sometime in the future – maybe five years down the line – she and Basnet want to expand Everything Nepali into a supermarket of sorts selling only made in Nepal products.
(Anweiti Upadhyay)
