Koteshwor Bhatbhateni Resumes Operations after Five Months

The Koteshwor outlet of Bhatbhateni Supermarket has resumed operations from Saturday, five months after it was damaged by vandalism and arson during the Gen Z protests in September.

The Koteshwor outlet is the second Bhatbhateni store to reopen following the attacks. Earlier, the supermarket’s main warehouse in Baluwatar had come back into operation from December 4.

Of Bhatbhateni’s 27 stores nationwide, 12 were completely destroyed and nine partially damaged in the attacks on September 9. The Koteshwor outlet was formally reopened on Saturday morning following a ritual performed by priests.

Speaking at the reopening, Managing Director Min Bahadur Gurung said the damaged structures would be rebuilt one by one and brought back into operation.
“Bhatbhateni became one of the biggest victims of the incident on September 9. There is no point in dwelling only on the past. We must forget it and move forward. All damaged stores will gradually be rebuilt and reopened,” he said.

Gurung said he still did not know why Bhatbhateni, which employs thousands and has long been one of the country’s largest taxpayers, was targeted. Comparing the scale of damage to the devastation caused by the atomic bombing of Japan, he said Japan later emerged as a developed nation.

A large number of customers visited the Koteshwor outlet after it reopened on Saturday. However, officials said data on customer turnout and sales figures were not immediately available.

According to a Bhatbhateni official, the company plans to reopen its Boudha and Maharajgunj outlets by mid-March. The Tangal outlet in Kathmandu and other stores are expected to resume operations by mid-July. Stores that were completely destroyed will take longer to reopen as they need to be demolished and rebuilt.

During the protests, Bhatbhateni’s outlets in Tangal, Maharajgunj, Koteshwor and Boudha in the Kathmandu Valley were completely gutted. Stores in Pokhara, Dharan, Bharatpur, Butwal, Biratnagar, Birtamod, Hetauda and Damak were also destroyed.

The company has prioritised reopening damaged outlets in the Kathmandu Valley, while stores outside the Valley will be brought back into operation gradually as per the reconstruction plan, the official said.