New Supplier
The Bombay Store represents the very ethos of Swadeshi, albeit today with a contemporary flavour. Swadeshi 2.0 if you may! Our distinctive product range reflects this core identity. We showcase the very soul of India’s villages, towns and states.
However, we are constantly looking to freshen things up, based on customer feedback. Our goal is that every customer who visits our stores or website, takes home a piece of India with every purchase.
If you curate or supply products and artefacts that capture a blend of contemporary and traditional Indian culture, we would love to talk with you. Please follow the below process to link with us:
1) Download our new supplier registration form.
2) Email the completed form to feedback@bombaystore.com along with your catalogue, offer price and contact details.
3) If your product offerings match our requirements, our buying team will connect with you shortly.
Download Form
Shradhanjali
Auroville is a utopian universal township in Tamil Nadu, devoted to an experiment in human unity. Shradhanjali is the handicraft unit of Auroville, embodying the spirit of the township through creations crafted from Mother Earth’s own natural wealth.
An expression through flowers and foliage, manifested in beautiful handmade products in a conscious, caring and sustainable manner, Shradhanjali additionally provides a stimulating and enriching work oppourtinty for the villagers it employs. All profits are channeled back into Auroville for its maintenance and development. A conscious, ethical and sustainable story of harmony between buyers and sellers.
Shradhanjali employs only environmental-friendly processes and techniques. The building itself is designed to maximise natural ventilation and lighting. It is powered by solar energy, harvests rainwater, and recycles wastewater for garden use. The flowers and plants, used in the handicrafts, are grown in dedicated gardens, nourished by organic manure and drip irrigation.
Flowers are handpicked and dried in cardboard presses; seeds and pods harvested seasonally and sundried. Every stage of making – from growing plants, picking and drying to decorative pasting and final packaging – is carried out by hand, using organic methods. Only handmade paper is used.
In effect, when you pick up a Shradhanjali handicraft at The Bombay Store, you are making a sustainable, eco-friendly choice that is helping nurture the livelihood of villagers and the noble concept of human unity.
Shivanjali Crafts
Shivanjali Crafts is social enterprise committed towards building a better future of underprivileged women. It launched from the desire to improve the socio-economic stature of poor patients at the Shiv Shantha Mother and Child Health Centre. Its basic premise rests on the reality that improving socio-economic conditions improves health itself.
Since 1986, the Centre has provided compassionate and comprehensive healthcare to underprivileged women and children on a pay-what-you-can basis. Along the way, the Centre realised it could give these very patients a new hope in life by engaging them in fruitful employment.
Accordingly, four projects were launched: A multicuisine vegetarian café; a sweets and spices manufacturing unit; a craft shop for Indian handicrafts; and a tailoring / doll making unit – which now produces the famed Kannamma dolls
Kannamma Dolls
Kannamma Dolls are cute, unique and original. Characterised by their wheatish and dark skin tones and bright traditional attire, they represent ethnic India at its most charming. Cotton bodies, filled with polyester fibre, the dolls are decked up in both traditional and modern outfits. These ‘regional dolls’ truly showcase India’s wonderful diversity, in two sizes and two skin tones.
When you buy a Kannamma Doll at The Bombay Store, you are bringing hope to one more underprivileged family.
Umang
Umang is a Rajasthan-based NGO striving towards rehabilitation of persons with brain damage, resulting in conditions like cerebral palsy, intellectual disability, autism and multiple disabilities. It is an initiative started by affected parents, and supported by a committed team of experienced and qualified professionals.
Umang reaches out to over 500 persons with disability and their families, through a gamut of services designed to integrate them with society and give them a sense of worth. Its outreaches include special education, physio and speech therapy, vocational training, sheltered workshops, advocacy and awareness, and home-based programmes. Parents are very actively involved in the running of the organisation.
The goal of Umang is to give persons with disability a sense of confidence and independence – be it physical, financial or emotional. As a result, vocational training is a huge part of the outreach. Extensive training is provided across various skills such as stitching, cooking and handicraft-making.
When you purchase an Umang handicraft from The Bombay Store, you are giving one more person with disability an emphatic vote of confidence for their desire to be independent.
Sustainability
Plenty has been said about climate change and sustainability, and the ticking time bomb the planet is sitting on, if we do not collectively commit to change. Thankfully, on both the supply and demand side of retail, there has been a marked shift towards sustainability.
More and more customers are demanding eco-friendly products that do not hurt the planet in any way. Some have even made a conscious decision not to patronise brands that show scant regard to sustainability. As a result, increasingly, brands too are changing their policies to align sustainability with their brand values and mission.
Brands that are doing so are reaping the benefits of differentiating themselves from the competition, accelerating customer loyalty, and contributing to a better future for the world at large. As more customers are enlightened to the environmental impact of their purchasing decisions, sustainability is becoming a key selling proposition. The time has come for every brand to embrace this trend, and make sustainability a core part of their brand identity.
The Bombay Store is proud to be at the forefront of the sustainability thrust. Based on the Swadeshi Movement, and coming into existence around the same time, its offerings have, by default, been sustainable and eco-friendly – primarily handicrafts from India’s villages, that use recyclable and sustainable products, while generating employment for those further down the economic scale. When you shop at The Bombay Store, you are making a strong statement in support of sustainability and Swadeshi.
Artisans
At The Bombay Store, we remain committed to empowering artisans and communities, especially from the back of beyond. Towards this objective, we have appointed extremely resourceful interns, who are using their innate ingenuity to fulfil our goals.
Class 12 student Pranay Chandak is one fine example. He has added new avenues by sourcing and promoting ancient traditional artworks and handicrafts from Dokra Art, Madhubani, Pattachitra, Phad and Terracotta styles. His efforts alone are positively impacting more than a hundred artisans.
Pranay has tirelessly set up pop-up displays of these products across four of our stores. He is putting finishing touches to a supply chain that will ensure seamless availability of products from artisans and vendors from even the remotest parts of the country.
