Meet Reena Gauchan | Retail Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Reena Gauchan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Reena, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I came to USA to study but land of doing business. I always liked interacting and meeting people also I loved creativity, curating, arts and crafts and so what better way to meet people then work in retail. I also needed to work since I just became a single mom. My determination and motivation came from my son and lack of resources and the situation we were in led me to connect with a friend who wanted to start a store so he asked me to help start a business. I helped him for about two years after that I wanted to start and focus on my goal of doing my own.

So there were a times when I was looking for something very comfortable and affordable clothings that I missed wearing similar from Nepal/India was very difficult, even you find them it was too expensive, so that gave me an idea to bring what I loved beautiful clothings, arts and crafts and introduce to USA, those early days there were so many people who did not know where Nepal was, so this was a way of getting to know where Nepal was and what merchandise I would be selling at the same time we were learning each other’s culture and traditions. Once I established my business my goal became that I wanted to make people feel happy when they came to the shop, catering my services to all ages was again I wanted anyone and anyone who walked into my store will find something for everyone. Then after a while even my customers would ask to find certain special items and I would go try to find them, that kind of build help create a regular clientele, made me excited and happy.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
It took a while to really make any money. I am thankful that I never quit or even thinking about quitting, I was dead focus on making it happen for me and for my son, I told myself no matter what I would work and never complain. What better your life could be when you work for yourself and you get to curate and fortunate to be in a different places with different crowds each time I went to sale, different people I met , meeting people and catering to their needs gave me a lot of energy and motivation, even though it was hard since I had to get up really early and work till 9, 10pm for couple of days in row, had to drive long hours since some of the festivals were as far as San Diego, Santa Barbara, Upland, Palm Springs, anywhere where you hear about a good festival I was there. If there were not a good festival I would go to flee market like Rose Bowl, Costa Mesa were not being a regular vendor, I could not buy the booth space in advance so I had to show up really really early to stay in the front line and wait until 8am for the vendor coordinator to find some empty space by old vendor not sowing up that would free up, if everyone showed up that day then I had to go home without a income/work, that was hard but I kept going and going without second guessing, and believing in myself that I was doing what I wanted to do, bringing items that are unique, handmade, vibrant, cultural, and sometime customers were asking for merchandise from Nepal, and letting lots of new customers that there are pretty arts and crafts in our country and where Nepal is, introducing a culture and traditions and arts and crafts from my country made me feel really good, specially when the customers were happy, satisfied and came all the time to buy from my booth. I have a high energy, but inside i always kept calmness, not worrying, not stressing too much and not taking too personally when it came to opinions of others, always keeping a positive mindset helps a lot. I believe that when you put all your effort complaining, stressing and excusing yourself with lots of negative stories will block your success and happiness in life.

I really wanted a physical store but it took me a while since I did not have enough money still, also lot of my regular client were asking if I had a store they would come more often. After 5 years of working out in the field finally I found a small space on Lincoln Blvd that I liked and opened in June 15th 2005, but my customers were not so keen of coming because I did not know the location that well, apparently surrounding my store was pretty bad but I could not afford anywhere else, Now my location had become one of the best location, since I had my store the Lincoln Blvd has been developed, and it is easy to come in and out without a hassle of looking for parking, had to walk for blocks to find the desire store. Now everyone loves it. It’s been 19years this last June and created a big community base, my store has connected so many people, building friendship, families for lifelong. I have an amazing community from all ages and people come from all over the town, sometime customers are coming from out of the states, because of this I have just focused on one store where I get to see all my customers and get to know each and every one of them which really makes me happy and content.

I also love cooking so I started having a zero waste community gathering by cooking an Ethnic Nepalese food to offer and introduce here to some taste of my ethnic cousin, with live music volunteered by local artists creating a festival atmosphere. I wanted to give a customers an experience when they enter my store, they will find something for everyone, learn something from each other, connecting in a deeper level not just a customer, owner base, hosting our community gathering we have done so. we hosts a zero waste community gathering by asking all the participants to bring their own REUSABLES PLATES, UTENSILS, TEA CUPS to eliminate the trash in the land filled. I also stoped giving out a plastic bags for last 15 years before even the the state have started banning plastic which I see have not been reinforced, if you go to stores they are still giving out plastic bags, I am a person who practice what I preach. In the beginning my customers were not too happy about not getting a plastic bags, by offering different services like carrying their purchase in their cars if there were a lot, and asking them to help eliminate trash, they all started to support and now everyone is happy to carry in their hand and thank me all the time. I call my store a community store, bonded with most of our long time customers like family and friends, people have met their significant other at my store, friendship are formed we have build a lot of history for past 19years. I am eternaly grateful beyond measures for everyone and anyone we are part of Kathmandu Boutique community.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I am a lover of nature, whenever i have a visitor I would love to take them to the beach, to hiking in Santa Monica mountain, Malibu Canyon, Topanga Canyon, Griffith Observatory, Runyon Canyon, these are close by and easy to get around at the same time it is beautiful surroundings. If they are staying longer, tif they like music, Hollywood Bowl, Greek Theater, Fonda Theatre are some of my outdoor amphitheater I would love to take them to Joshua Tree for camping, Sequoia, Mammoth, Big Bear or to beautiful San Diego, or along the pacific coast towards Big Sur, stop along a small beach town like Santa Barbara, Pismo Beach, Santa Cruz, are one of my favorite places. For food, I am big foodie but I love my own cooking so most of the time when I have a guest I cook all the time, cooking makes me really happy and satisfied.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I grew up in Nepal/India border, loved wearing a comfortable cotton clothings. When I came to the US back in 1994 there was not much selection of clothings or fabrics anywhere from my country, on top that hardly anyone knew where Nepal was, also I really liked connecting with people from all places and ages, also I needed a job to support me and my son since I just got out of the relationship. Right then I decided to do business, at the time I did not have much resources so I helped open a Nepali store for a friend and try to save some money. Within two years my friend started a wholesale business and they started bringing some nice handicraft from Nepal, I decided to do my own business. I still did not have much resources that i can open a storefront, instead i found out there were a lot of festival, flee markets and street fairs, so I started a vending business. Since I helped open a store front for my friend and he had a wholesale business, he kindly let me take his merchandise on consignment, I gave him the money after I sold the goods, without his help I would not be here doing a business that I love so much today.

I want to give credit and thank my sister who has been working and supporting me for last 10 years, she is a really hard worker and takes care of my store where I do not have to worry much. I feel so blessed to have her in my life. I also have a 24 year old son who I want to thank as well with out him I would not be here because when I gave a birth to him I was in a pretty bad situation in terms of my relationship and my finances, once I separated from my then boyfriend I had a epiphany that I needed to take care of myself and my son. So instead of feeling sorry or bad for myself I took the challenge and worked really hard. I always says if it was not for the hard times, I might not have had a mindset of working hard if it was not for my son or bad relationship I would not be where I am so happy satisfied.

I could have had number of stores in different locations, but I wanted to focus and give my customers a family vibe, stressless shopping, excellent customer service so they can enjoy and learn by coming to my store. Also I have come to conclusion that if you want to reach anything in life you must work really hard, everything is possible, we cannot say that we can’t do this or that, we can do anything we want, the only thing is how much we want, it’s all in our mind and enjoy whatever you are doing with full heartedly whether its small project or big to gain joy in life.

Website: https://www.kathmanduboutique.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kathmandu_boutique/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reena-gauchan-02200510/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kathmanduboutique

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/kathmandu-boutique-santa-monica