Dan Okwiri
Up and till 2010 the Asian community were the nut & bolt of retail business in downtown Nairobi. Then the winds shifted, rocked in advent of Somali, Chinese and other local merchants who were traveling to China & Turkey began renting the hereto huge shops & dividing them in cubicle & stocking new trendy attire that rocked the boat.
The Asian ma’ & pop shops didn’t offer variety, their Kamba shop assistants hand me downs passed on from genre to genre had a drab take or leave attitude, there was no competition. Most Asians employed Kambas, they deemed them more honest & servile, & each genre of Kambas would bring in the next to work for his master.
The Asian dukawallas hadn’t cottoned on to the new fashion the younger genre thirsted, their shop display were a dreary frazzled array of yesteryear wear.
Meanwhile the upcoming newbies exhibitions cubicle stalls partitioned with see through glass employed young alluring beauteous to sell their garments, and they advertised their wares on the internet too. Digitally savvy & fuzzy, they sold online too in snazzy, which gave a whale of reach in the whole country. Their cubicle shops were just for physical display, the web was their real market, the walk in customers a bonus.
They opened FB pages for their stores, posted on new trends, new arrivals of apparels, did fashion stints on tik tok of theirs wears using luscious sexy ladies. They used courier to deliver, whilst the Asian dukawallahs sat butt awaiting walk-in customers. The incessant traffic jam didn’t make things easier as many wary to shop in town in fear of traffic & petty crime & grime.
The Asian dukawallahs hadn’t allowed customers to physically touch and have feel for the clothes or linen they sold, they kept the clothes behind the display counters, in open upper cabinets.
The customers had to point to what they fancied and it would be lowered down, this took time. They dukawallahs lived in livid fear of shop lifting. The shops were poorly lit, therefore weren’t shopping friendly.
Cook the goose, in 2020 as covid took its toll, few would venture into town. The strictures of compulsory wearing masks and shopping in drab Biashara Street shops wasn’t an attractive proposition. The shops began to be fold & sold as many called it quits.
Asian owned River road & Ngara went down first, then Tom Mboya Street, Luthuli Avenue, Accra Road, & Moi Avenue. Then the decimation crept into the ritzy part of town to Biashara Street.
My supplier of hotel linen & towels hanged his boots in 2021. The closure of Mr Patel’s garments shop shocked me! The business had run 70 years. For him to give up meant he had failed his family tree.
In melancholy he ranted to me, Wuod Baba I can’t stand the onslaught of Somalis. Even Biashara Street the last Asian dukawallah bastion has fallen. The competition way cheaper, with better variety & taste.
I had sent my 4 children to the UK for studies, instead they have opted to settle. Am too frazzled to soldier on. It’s disheartening for me to let go this staff of 8 folk who have served my family for generations. Am too old to leave Kenya, the only thing I sit out for is my final check out.”
I couldn’t fathom that Patel had given up.
Around the neighborhood next street to city market they were at least 6 vibrant Asian hard ware shops, by 2025 only one is left standing. The proprietor is almost 80 years old, he is assisted by one son 50 yrs who opted to come back & assist his die hard father. The son vibed to me.
“The hardware retail business is no longer in CBD it’s shifted to Gikomba, a totally different kettle of fish. The new genre don’t look for the quality that we sell, they want cheap Chinese. The devil to pay, business around Biashara street is dying. Even City Market is dead too, who comes anymore to Nairobi CBD for shopping?
The Nairobi County government has reduced parking slots in the name of walk ways, these pedestrians buy zilch. Down & out, I no longer run the shop on profit, I can’t close shop as long as dad is alive. I carry dead weight, the day he pegs off will cremate him, & close this shop cut & run, and return to the UK. To come clean, I don’t know what will happen to the staff who have worked for the family for donkey years.”.
In the back of mind, it occurred to me the dalliance of Asian community in retail business is at sunset. It’s clear as mud, the last surviving hardware around CBD is on imminent closure. I had schooled in the same school with him, though he was younger. Many Indian dukawallahs failed to grip the change of the times and adapt to the black swan. They refused to do deliveries, refused on-line business, and kept aloof to their demise.
The few who prosper moved upstream to manufacturing in industrial area. The Chinese are battling them with cheaper imports.
Coup de grace, his departure a death too of part of life as I know it. The genzee not in the know that Asians once dominated the Nairobi’s retail scene.
Though a minority, you Kenya would no way reach its present status without Asian contribution. There story makes ours, their food, culture, language gelled into ours. And am a child of theirs, study and they taught me much of what I know.
My roses to Mr DeSouza my teacher in the 70s who migrated to Australia many decades ago but taught young Wuod Babs how to pen this journal which butters the lives of thousands.
“Babu’ji kya hua?”.
#okwiri my journal, my thoughts, my walk..
This post was created with our nice and easy submission form. Create your post!
Did this story move you? Every gift goes directly to Dan Okwiri — writers on Muwado earn from reader appreciation, not algorithms. Even $1 makes a difference.
Muwado weekly chart
Get Africa’s top 10 stories every Thursday
No account needed — just your email.
Want to follow Dan Okwiri and get notified every time they publish?
Create a free Muwado account →