The Bungalow opens space to designers and artisans

VIDYA THURAB

Business owners Navin Boodhai and Charu Lochan Dass have opened the doors of their The Bungalow restaurant on Rust Street, St Clair, to provide a space rent free for designers and artisans to sell their products.

Lochan Dass, a fashion designer who owns her own brand CLD-Charu Lochan Dass, came up with the idea. The first fashion/artisans market at The Bungalow Trinidad Restaurant and Lounge was December 5, with one yesterday and another on December 19, the week before Christmas.

Lochan Dass first thought of the concept when she and Boodhai, her husband, were on a trip to Tobago earlier this year, before covid19 and public health restrictions forced the fashion and services sectors to put many events and production on hold. “While we were relaxing, we were talking about the year and how things went business wise and in discussion I thought, we have the space, why not create an avenue for local designers and artisans to display and sell their products for the Christmas season, because, as we all know, this year has been so difficult for business, all businesses I think, but for local businesses it has been even tougher,” she said.

She too had to make changes to her fashion line.

“I used to have a boutique. I closed that down because of covid. Things are crazy, such unpredictable times, so we decided to close the brick-and-mortar store and go online.”

CLD went on online in August.

But this change is no substitute for aspects of her business that is integral for client satisfaction.

“I think Trinidadians are still getting used to the idea to shop online. I find a lot of my clients, and I’m sure a lot of other designers would agree, especially when it comes to clothes, people like to fit, try on, they like to feel the fabric, they like to see how they look in it, and all of that. So we discussed it, and within a day we came up with this idea.”

Through networking, Lochan Dass was able to bring the concept to life.

“I reached out to Crystal Cunningham from Port of Spain Fashion Week, she was so supportive and helped us reach out to designers, we called and asked them if they were interested. Everybody came on board, and within a week, we pulled this off.”

Lochan Dass explained why she chose this time of the year to start the venture.

“Basically, it’s just to give everybody an avenue to sell their merchandise for the Christmas, it’s just a few more weeks for Christmas so why not maximise on it, and the whole concept and idea of this market is ‘buy local, support local’. So everything you see here is locally made; the clothing, jewellery, art, flowers, cosmetics, everything. We are really trying to push the ‘buy local, support local’ campaign.”

She said she felt support for the economy is important.

“I also feel right now because of the foreign exchange issues, our economy is not really that great right now, so the best thing that we can do is to support each other, keep the money here circulate it within our people so that we are also able to grow and hopefully next year we can see a better year.”

She also had advice for local businesses.

“Right now, you have to keep in mind, even though you may have a really high-end brand and, yes, you’ve worked for years to build your brand, you have to consider the times that we are in now the market has changed so much. So my advice would be do a little cheaper price point, something more affordable so that you could tap into a wider network, and a wider market and that is the only way right now I think we could survive and still grow.”

With one more Saturday to go, interested artisans and designers can use The Bungalow Trinidad Restaurant and Lounge’s reservations to book their time which is between 5 pm to 10 pm. The service is free to small entrepreneurs. Contact reservations@thebungalowtrinidad.com or call at 610-2864.