A meeting, an accident, a love story… and a lifestyle store.
In keeping with the focus of this blog, this post should have only talked about a beautiful lifestyle store in Goa called The Karma Collection, but the romantic in me has to tell you the story behind it too.
The story is about a British girl called Giane and a Rajasthani boy called Babu. Babu ran a textile shop in Udaipur and Giane, a happy tourist walked in to his store and bought some stuff. On the way from Udaipur to Jodhpur, Giane fell off the footboard of a bus and hurt her ankle badly.
Babu heard about this, and came to Jodhpur just to make sure she was okay. He looked after her while she recovered, and the two realized they wanted a life together. The couple moved to Goa because it was more westernized, and set up their shop Karma Collection on Baga Beach in 2005.
They started out with only the stock from Babu’s store, and with the meager capital they had, they gradually filled it up with other stock – diaries, jewellery, leather, clothes, and unusual gifts. Giane insisted that it be a fixed price store, and the people who visited simply loved both – the prices and the stuff!
Their quest to stock different and unique stuff has made their store quite a hit with the tourists on Baga Beach. They also sometimes design their own stuff. They are very particular about quality and sell only stuff that lasts.
Being opposites, they have nicely divided their roles – Giane sources, designs and arranges the stuff, and Babu who is an excellent businessman takes care of the negotiating, pricing and selling! Says Giane, “Luckily our various strengths and weaknesses complement each other. I’m absolutely obsessive about display and Babu often jokes that my job is to move things one inch to the left or right and back again ten times until I’m 100% happy its exactly in the right spot! I drive the people I work with insane because I nit-pick about tiny details but I think that is what makes our shop different from the competition and I’ve got no intentions of changing! Babu is fantastic with people and is very much the face of the shop. He’s the one people like and remember and without him the business wouldn’t run.”
Wasn’t that a beautiful story? Well, if you want to know more, visit their website.
Karma Collection is located at
Lucia Bella’s Guest House,
7/173a Saunta Vaddo
Baga Beach, Calagute,
Bardez, Goa 403516, India
sigh! … what a lovely fairytale-like romance. And what a gorgeous store to lose myself in! I may never come out.
is this for real??? this is awesome.. the love story from a fairy tale… and the magical store… Gosh!!! Love the display its awesome… Just a thought… if the store is given soooooooooo much attention to detail.. what does thier home look like?? Lovely.. lovely..
Sharon… Amazing post!! Super impressive!!
What a beautiful and marvellous store. If I visit I think I will not be willing to come out of the store. I appreciate for the wonderful decoration.
fab article. I love all things Indian and that a must visit. thanks for the info. am checking out their site now.
What a lovely story and awesome store!!
Lovely fairy tale! Good to see that fixed price tag coming over there instead of quoting exorbitantly high price and then reducing it in the name of discounts. Great Idea for sure.
Wishing them a very good luck and certainly look forward to meet them in person and their store when I visit Goa next time!
Hi Sharon and Rekha,
I really appreciate your efforts U both really explore such wonderful and creative Ethnic places and introduce them to all of us Keep up good job ..I am already a fan of this store.
gr8 post always, Sharon..my next goa trip wont be complete without a visit to this shop
That's indeed a lovely story … Story of success by all means…. That was a nice write up & I enjoyed reading & visiting their space… They have it all yummy!!!!! Lovely….sure to visit them when in Goa….. THANKS!!!!! & KUDOS!!!!
Ash….
(http://asha-oceanichope.blogspot.com/)
Lovely store and a colorful shop. I like such stores which display ethnic stuff.
Whata beautiful store… and a fairy tale romance:) lovely!!!!
@Sunita and Babli: Gosh, I am like that too. I hate to walk out of stores like this.
@ Patricia – I must ask them to share pics of their home. Thanks the the compliments:)
@Rekha, Mohan and Asha (Ashkuku) – If you visit the store, do let them know you saw them on The Keybunch.
@Sayantini, Aditi, LG and Rachana – Glad you liked it.
@Rashmi(Ethnic Indian Decor)Thanks for the words of appreciation. Rekha and I are constantly on the lookout for novel stuff for you guys, so keep coming back!
Lovely store that one and the luv story makes it all the more beautiful 🙂 Will def. visit this one sometime 🙂
Thanks for sharing 🙂
What a lovely post Sharon! And the story behind it is so romantic…I wish them both years & years of togetherness and lots of luck for their store. And now its time to make all of you very very jealous…I have been to the store!! Yay! Yay! And its was so very pretty! But I did not have any idea behind its origin…thanks for sharing it Sharon!
wow! What a nice collection the store has .
I liked the story and also enjoyed reading.
Oh man..that's a lovely story.Almost a fairytale 🙂
The store is terrific..!!
@Swaram – Do let me know if you happen to visit them.
@Prachi aka Purplehomes – Did you pick up anything from their store? I loved the store featured on your blog too.
@Padhu and Gulmohar – I agree!:)
Lovely store and story!
all ur posts are good and informative..
thanks.
Lovely story and equally lovely shop. Inspiring post 🙂
What a charming story..am such a sucker for romance and the store is stunning. A must see when I am in Goa. Thanks for a lovely post.