Picture this: It's 3am in Glasgow. While most of the city sleeps, Nathalie Kaur is fielding emergency calls for Police Scotland, her voice a lifeline for those in crisis. Come Easter Sunday, she's behind the counter of her One Stop Partick store, dressed as the Easter Bunny, handing out chocolate eggs to delighted children. It's an extraordinary double life that would exhaust most people, but for Nathalie, it's simply another day in her routine.
This remarkable juggling act has earned her recognition as the Local Hero Award winner at the 2024 Asian Trader Awards – an accolade that celebrates retailers who go above and beyond for their communities. But the award barely scratches the surface of a story that includes premature twins on oxygen tanks, £1,000 cash giveaways, and a determination that refused to bend even when industry veterans dismissed her as a “silly little girl.”
Against all odds
Nathalie's entry into retail wasn't born from family tradition or business school theory. “I'm a first generation retailer, and I don't come from a background of retail, but I saw the opportunity to basically be my own boss and work for myself,” she explains. What she couldn't have anticipated was just how much that decision would test every ounce of her resolve.
The challenges came thick and fast. While establishing her business, Nathalie gave birth to extremely premature twins at 26 weeks. For four months, she navigated between the neonatal intensive care unit, her shop floor, and her police night shifts. When the twins finally came home, they remained on permanent oxygen. Most people would have thrown in the towel. Nathalie strapped both babies to her body – one on the front, one on the back – along with two oxygen tanks, and continued serving customers.
One Stop Partick store in Glasgow
“Everyone told me I couldn't do it, but I did and I still am!” she says with characteristic defiance. Eighteen months later, she had her third child, meaning three children under two years old, a business, and a full-time night shift job. It's a feat that sounds impossible until you meet Nathalie and realise that for her, the impossible is simply another challenge to overcome.
What drives a person to persist through such overwhelming circumstances? For Nathalie, the answer is refreshingly straightforward: “The love for retail, basically,” she laughs. “I genuinely love meeting people, talking to people. Yes, of course, there are trials and tribulations with working and the store. And obviously I do have a very, very young family, but I do always try and be positive about every situation, whether it be good or bad, and just keep going.”
It's this combination of genuine passion and determined optimism that has sustained her through the darkest moments. “I do genuinely love the community that we're in, and I love the people that are around us. And, not every day is the same. There's always something different going on in store. And that's what I love about it.”
The £1,000 gamble
Last year, Nathalie made a decision that had her customers rubbing their eyes in disbelief. She announced a £1,000 cash giveaway – probably the largest sum ever offered by an independent convenience store. “A lot of people didn't believe it, to be honest, and a lot of people thought it was too good to be true,” she recalls.
But behind the bold gesture lay shrewd thinking. “There are loads of stores out there that do competitions – a pack of coke or a pack of wine, booze, something like that. But there's not a lot of people that will do things like a £1000 competition.” The gamble paid off spectacularly, not just in customer engagement but in industry recognition. “On the back of that, we won the award with yourselves. And we also won another award as well.”
Nathalie Kaur (L) says her £1,000 cash giveaway was rooted in genuine understanding of her community's struggles during the cost-of-living crisis
The initiative wasn't just about standing out from the competition; it was rooted in genuine understanding of her community's struggles during the cost-of-living crisis. “We do run periodic competitions for our customers. There's always some sort of engagement every month,” she reveals. “When we have new products coming out, we always like to try and run free giveaways with that, to include our community in everything we do.”
Her ability to think seasonally and empathetically was evident again this January, when she gave away a mystery holiday for two. The timing was deliberate: “Everybody has less money in January because it's spent all on Christmas. Usually January is the longest month of the year until you get paid, because you get paid early in December.”
It's this kind of mindful planning that turns marketing into genuine community support – understanding not just what people want, but when they need it most.
Beyond the till
Step into One Stop Partick, and you quickly realise this isn't your typical convenience store. Nathalie has created something closer to a community hub, where social media content creation sits alongside stock rotation on the daily task list. Her younger staff members love being involved in the store's Facebook and TikTok presence. “They love it because they're of that generation anyway. And they like being involved and they like other people recognising them when they're not at the shop, almost that claim to fame type thing.”
This social media savvy has had an unexpected side effect. Walking down the busy Dumbarton Road, now an extension of Glasgow’s trendy and modern West End, Nathalie finds herself recognised more often than not. “Nine times out of 10 people know my name. I won't know their name, but they know my name because they've seen me on Facebook or TikTok or Instagram, which is quite humbling, because you kind of feel like a bit of a celebrity!”
But celebrity status isn't the goal – community connection is. From organising litter picks with local children to running period poverty campaigns, Nathalie ensures there's always something happening that brings people together. “We try and do some sort of engagement with our community, whether that be giving away something or whether it be just doing something in store.”
One Stop transformation
Nathalie's retail journey wasn't always smooth sailing. Her experience with her previous symbol group was so negative it nearly broke her resolve. “I was told that I was a silly little girl, I should just sell my store, and I don't know what I'm doing. That wasn't helpful. That wasn't warranted. It wasn't asked for.”
The contrast with her current partnership with One Stop couldn't be starker. “You actually feel like you're part of a bigger group – obviously we're part of Tesco. There's a much more structured business model, and it's a very easy business model to follow.” The support system has been transformative, providing everything from training modules for staff to incredible promotional offers that drive footfall.
“At Christmas, we were doing three boxes of chocolate for five pounds. I've never seen that anywhere else,” she enthuses. This backing has translated into significant sales growth, proving that when retailers have the right support, their natural entrepreneurial instincts can flourish.
The learning curve
For someone without a retail background, the learning curve was steep. “Just knowing how to basically run a business was the hardest part,” Nathalie admits. “Before you become a retailer, you don't realise all the kind of the back office functions that are required to be done, even things like how to do VAT, how to do payroll, how to do tax returns.”
But perhaps the biggest revelation was understanding the modern retail landscape. “Gone are the days where you could just open a shop and stand behind the counter. It doesn't work that way now. You have to promote yourself on social media. You have to be in front of the camera.”
This realisation led to one of her key differentiators in a crowded market. “In our locality, we have about four or five convenience stores in the very close vicinity. And if we didn't do what we do, we wouldn't stand out from those.”
Supporting next gen
Having faced dismissive attitudes early in her career, Nathalie is passionate about supporting other women entering retail. “There are still a lot of barriers and with what the women are faced in the industry, it can be very daunting for women to go into a room, especially at some of the conferences, and then be the only woman that's there.”
Her approach is refreshingly direct. “If I am at an event and I see a woman just standing there by herself, I will go over to her and say, Hi, how you doing? I'm Natalie. How are you? And start a conversation.”
She says it's so important just to even start that conversation, as it lets other women know that they are not alone. “I think that's needed more than anything, just to let them know that they're not the only one out there, and there are other women out there that are there to support.”
She's realistic about the challenges women face. “Most women out there are either mothers or wives or both, and business women, and we're all doing three or four jobs simultaneously. It's not easy, but it's very doable.”
Moment of validation
When asked about the moment she felt vindicated after all the early criticism, Nathalie doesn't hesitate. “When I won the award, if I'm honest. That was validation.” While she acknowledges that daily work matters most, she's refreshingly honest about the importance of recognition. “It is also nice to have that recognition that somebody else thinks you've done a good job.”
As summer approaches, Nathalie is already planning new initiatives to keep children engaged during the school holidays and support families who might be struggling. Her advice to other retailers is elegantly simple: “Look after the community, because your community looks after you. Because without our community, we wouldn't have a business.”
Nathalie Kaur
For someone who started with no retail experience and faced dismissive attitudes from industry insiders, Nathalie's transformation of One Stop Partick into a community cornerstone is remarkable. But perhaps what's most impressive is how she's maintained her authenticity throughout the journey. The same determination that saw her navigate through NICU [neonatal intensive care unit] with oxygen tanks while serving customers now drives her to constantly innovate and engage with her community.
In an industry facing unprecedented challenges, she represents something vital: the power of genuine community connection combined with astute business sense. Her story isn't just about overcoming barriers – it's about transforming them into stepping stones for others to follow. And if her track record is anything to go by, the best is yet to come.