- Joined
- Mar 5, 1999
- Messages
- 34,096
In six months, shop 2 has gone from zero to the best equipped shop in Nepal which is producing the finest khukuris I've ever seen made on a regular basis in the country. Of course, when you turn the finest kamis in Nepal loose in the best equipped shop in the country I suppose this is what you might logically expect. And, paying the highest wages plus unheard of employee benefits has to help, too. Combining great skill and care with the modern equipment has cut production costs so it is the best of two worlds -- quality up and cost down!
Of some interest to me, and perhaps you, is the fact that our shop gets a great number of visitors everyday. These are Nepalis who come to see the khukuris we make and how we make them. They cannot understand how we make the high quality that we do -- until they see it done. Gelbu says this is one of the major problems he has to face -- dealing with all the visitors.
Over the years, once in a great while I would see a village model of extremely high quality but that was a great exception. Now, almost every khukuri coming out of shop 2 is of astounding quality. HI customers who own both shop 1 and shop 2 khukuris will no longer purchase shop 1 offerings even though I have them in stock and can ship immediately. They would rather wait two months for the shop 2 khukuri. That tells a story. Very soon shop 2 will become the Himalayan Imports shop -- period.
Finding kamis to work is no problem. Gelbu tells me five or six show up every day asking for work. The downside is we can't hire them all and this is very sad because those who come sorely need the work. The upside is we can take our pick of only the best of the best.
Gelbu has purchased a computer so email communications will be much faster and easier and not subject to loss. And, he is searching for a larger facility so he can hire more kamis and sarkis. Things are improving daily.
Stay tuned!
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Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
http://members.aol.com/himimp/index.html
Of some interest to me, and perhaps you, is the fact that our shop gets a great number of visitors everyday. These are Nepalis who come to see the khukuris we make and how we make them. They cannot understand how we make the high quality that we do -- until they see it done. Gelbu says this is one of the major problems he has to face -- dealing with all the visitors.
Over the years, once in a great while I would see a village model of extremely high quality but that was a great exception. Now, almost every khukuri coming out of shop 2 is of astounding quality. HI customers who own both shop 1 and shop 2 khukuris will no longer purchase shop 1 offerings even though I have them in stock and can ship immediately. They would rather wait two months for the shop 2 khukuri. That tells a story. Very soon shop 2 will become the Himalayan Imports shop -- period.
Finding kamis to work is no problem. Gelbu tells me five or six show up every day asking for work. The downside is we can't hire them all and this is very sad because those who come sorely need the work. The upside is we can take our pick of only the best of the best.
Gelbu has purchased a computer so email communications will be much faster and easier and not subject to loss. And, he is searching for a larger facility so he can hire more kamis and sarkis. Things are improving daily.
Stay tuned!
------------------
Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
http://members.aol.com/himimp/index.html
