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Amsterdam avenue loses piece of Himalayas

By Leslie Albrecht | DNAinfo

Owner Perloo Choden talks to customer Maria Gibson at Tibet Bazaar. The Amsterdam Avenue store is closing at the end of the month after 18 years in business.DNAinfo/Leslie Albrecht/US

The store that’s brought a piece of the Himalayas to the Upper West Side for 18 years is closing its doors at the end of the month.

Tibet Bazaar, at Amsterdam Avenue and 83rd Street, will close 31 July, said owner Perloo Choden.

Choden, 50, is returning to her native Kathmandu, Nepal.

Her shop sells clothing, jewellery and artwork from Nepal, Tibet, India and Bhutan. On Wednesday, many of the shelves were bare, but Choden still had hand-knit wool booties, Buddhist tapestries and red, blue and green Tibetan prayer flags in the store.

Choden opened her store on the Upper West Side because she knew the people who lived in the neighbourhood would appreciate what she was selling, she said.

“They’ve travelled more, a lot of them have travelled to Asia,” Choden said Wednesday. “They weren’t just buying a product, they bought it because they appreciated what it stood for and who made it.”

Choden, who lives in a studio apartment on 79th Street, said she decided to close the business and move to Nepal because working at the store wasn’t as inspiring as it had once been.

She said she would miss her customers. Among them is Maria Gibson, a Midtown resident in her 60s, who was in the store wearing a dress and amethyst necklace she had purchased there.

Gibson said she discovered Tibet Bazaar years ago and kept coming back because she liked the merchandise and the “good energy.”

Choden said the feeling was mutual.

“I have the best customers in the world,” she said. “The Upper West Side people have been the nicest and most compassionate. I leave on a very high note for my next adventure.”

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