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STORE PROFILE
Nearby Donore is a sizable store at 3,000sq ft and occupies a central role in the local community as the only village shop
Kaushaul Katharia is the owner of Nearby in Donore, County Louth. He speaks to Fionnuala Carolan about the great personal journey he has had since moving to Ireland from his home in India and his grand plans for the future
For the love of retail T
he Nearby store in Donore, Co. Louth has been given a new lease of life since Kaushaul Katharia took over the running of it in 2019. The village shop needed an overhaul and a steady pair of hands and wholesaler S&W Wholesale identified Katharia as the man for the job. Originally from Northern India, Katharia came to Ireland in 2007 in the name of love. The cross-continent move was deemed necessary due to his inter-caste marriage. Many Indian families still prefer marriages arranged within their religion and caste which meant that it would have been problematic for Katharia and his wife Shivani
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STORE PROFILE
Retailer: Kaushaul Katharia Group: Nearby Donore Address: Unit 3, Cuileann Court, Cruicerath, Donore, Co. Meath Size: 3,000sq ft Opening hours: Monday – Sunday; 7am – 8pm
Sharma to be married in India, so their best option was to move abroad. This can’t have been easy for the couple but there doesn’t seem to be any trace of resentment about his situation, simply accepting it as a fait accompli. Arriving in Ireland at just 25 years of age, just as the recession bore down on the country, he counted himself lucky to secure employment with the AIM group, a retail/ wholesale outfit that owns the Home Savers brand of retail stores and previously owned the Irish arm of Iceland. Katharia credits Naeem Maniar, MD of the AIM Group as being a big support to him and says he is very appreciative of the vast experience he gained there. “I was involved in the first store opening in the Ilac Centre,” he recalls. “There was an Iceland on the ground floor and a Home Savers on the first floor. I started working in sales support and got a lot of experience and exposure there.” He worked there for six and a half years but always had grand plans to go it alone. “I eventually decided there
was no more growth for me there. They all really supported me and gave me all the help I needed to start on my own,” he explains.
His first store Katharia’s journey as a retailer began in 2013, when a contact from a competitor approached him about taking over their branded shop in Ballymore Eustace, Co. Kildare. He soon realised that running your own store was a whole different ballgame to working for someone else. “I struggled for the first six months,” he freely admits. “I spent 16/17 hours a day working in the store for six months in order to learn everything. I sent my family back to India so I could put all my efforts into learning all I could.” He says that his wife Shivani and children Navanshi (11) and Paavni (8) enjoyed the time with family allowing Katharia to focus completely on the new business. This dedication paid off and the business turned around within the year.
Moving to S&W Wholesale He traded with a competitor for the first three years but slowly began to buy more and more from S&W Wholesale as he recognised the value and felt that the service was superior. He ultimately decided that he wanted to adopt S&W’s new symbol group Today’s Local and was one of the first symbol stores for the group. They now have over 140 symbol stores across Ireland. Katharia mentions S&W’s experienced retail team and the support they provide, as being great to work with and he feels that the company has
“The store has already seen a sales hike of 60% since we took over. S&W are really supporting me through this. The BDMs are here every week and we’re working together to make sure we get it right.”
