Why CityStores?
This story begins in the early 1900s when my Great Grandfather left India in search of opportunities in Southern Africa (Rhodesia at the time, now Zimbabwe).
He left Rajkot in India in his teens in order to work on the new railroad being brought in to connect the land locked country of Rhodesia to the neighbouring lands with sea ports (namely Beira in Mozambique and Durban in South Africa).
Our Grandfather, Abdul Karim Noormohamed, was born in 1909 and he is the original founder of the name City Stores in 1940s Rhodesia.
A small but thriving store in the heart of Salisbury (present day Harare) that allowed my grandfather to begin building his business empire over 20+ years that would see him connected to the then Prime Ministers office and many of the cities leading businessmen.
The name survived after my grandfather passed away in 1979, the countries independence in 1980 and Zimbabwe's more recent economic challenges until it eventually closed in 2016.
In the year of 89, I was born, the grandson.. Imran..aka cass’s son. Having worked in numerous large retailers I soon realized I wanted to create one of my own. So I carried on what we knew best, buying and selling, But this time.. wholesale.
City Stores Trading Ltd was reborn in 2019 as our way of keeping our grandfathers legacy going in the UK by moving his store driven business model to the more modern online method. Like him, we pride ourselves on good old fashioned customer service and treating every person (not just our customers) with respect and dignity.
So off I went, with little funding, I left a secure job in retail, sold the fancy car and went into the local suppliers. With no funds, I took photos of the lines I dreamt of buying, went home and listed them on e-commerce websites. starting with 1 box, made a few sales and thought..now i just need to do that.. on a gigantic scale.. easy right? .. No!
I made many mistakes, made lots of money, lost loads of money, but soon learned if you want something bad enough, never give up. Persevere.
Today we outgrew the cardboard box, we then out grew the home built shed and moved onto our second warehouse located in West London.
As the company grows.. as does the vision.
So, why City Stores? Because it is part of our history, it is our present day and, God Willing, we will make it part of our future.