May 28, 2011

New Main Street Gift Shop In Downtown Ann Arbor Reflects Owners’ Love Of The HimalayasBy Angela SmithAnnArbor.com

Though we have plenty of lovely rolling hills, “Tree Town” is pretty flat on a word scale. But that doesn’t stop Ann Arbor residents from being interested in mountain climbing or Himalayan culture, says Heather O’Neal.

O’Neal and her business partner Pemba Dorjee, a nationally known Sherpa, plan to officially open Main Street’s newest little shop, Himalayan Bazaar today.

O’Neal ran the business out of her home garage on Ann Arbor’s Old West Side for years. But this year, she and Dorjee were able to make the leap to a Main Street storefront.

“The move to Main Street came about because Pem Dorjee was interested in opening a shop after working at a Nepalese gift shop in Boulder, Colorado, the last few years,” says O’Neal.

“We thought Ann Arbor was a similar town with the university and its diverse, globally-minded population. It seemed like a good fit and a good career change for both of us,” says O’Neal. O’Neal expects that a few of the store’s shoppers will be mountaineers, but that a good deal of them will be “people interested in culture, travel and adventure.”

Read complete article.