A year ago, Bhat-Bhateni Supermarket, Nepal’s largest retail chain, faced one of the biggest crises in its four-decades-long history.

On the second day of the Gen Z uprising on September 9, 2025, twelve of its outlets and its Baluwatar warehouse were completely destroyed or gutted while several others outlets were vandalised and looted.

The company has since rebuilt and reopened 10 of the 12 severely damaged outlets, with its Damak and Hetauda stores expected to resume operations by December and January, respectively.

“There was pain in our hearts and tears in our eyes as we watched our stores burn,” said Chairman and Managing Director Min Bahadur Gurung on Monday while reopening Bhat-Bhateni’s outlet in Tangal. “But we didn’t forget our responsibility towards the state and our employees. We started work within a week, clearing hot ash, steel rods and bricks, and have managed to reopen 10 stores in a year.”

The recovery stands out against the scale of the damage. The company reported losses of more than Rs11 billion after the protests. Bhat-Bhateni filed a claim exceeding Rs11 billion across 20 stores, including 12 that were completely destroyed. More than Rs500 million worth of goods were reportedly looted.

The Post reported that 21 of Bhat-Bhateni’s 28 outlets were damaged during the unrest. The attacks came on September 9, a day after dozens of protesters were shot dead during anti-corruption demonstrations that were triggered by social media ban. Bhat-Bhateni was among the private businesses targeted by protesters amid anger towards political parties and figures associated with the then ruling CPN-UML. Gurung had drawn controversy in 2024 after donating land for the UML’s central office.

For Bhat-Bhateni, the destruction also threatened thousands of jobs. Around 5,000 of its roughly 10,000 employees worked at the affected outlets and warehouse.

“Although our business infrastructure was destroyed, the company decided not to remove employees from their jobs,” said chief operation officer Panu Paudel. “We retained more than 10,000 employees and also paid the festival [Dashain] bonus that was due after the Gen Z movement.

Rebuilding began within days and continued around the clock. Teams had to reconstruct buildings, electrical and technical systems, equipment, sales areas, storage arrangements and customer service facilities.

“This was not an ordinary reconstruction,” said Paudel. “We had to rebuild the entire system needed to operate a store. We worked 24 hours a day. Once one store was ready, teams moved to the next.”

The Baluwatar warehouse, crucial to the company’s supply chain, was brought back into operation within 70 days. The Koteshwar outlet followed within four months. Maharajgunj, Chitwan, Pokhara, Baudha, Biratnagar, Birtamod, and Dharan have since reopened, with Tangal, the chain’s first-ever outlet, becoming the latest to resume operations.

The company estimates that rebuilding the 12 severely damaged outlets will cost about Rs15 billion. Paudel said work on the remaining two is progressing, with Damak targeted for reopening in December and Hetauda in January.

The recovery comes as businesses across the country continue to deal with the wider economic fallout of the September unrest.

Before the unrest, the affected outlets were among Bhat-Bhateni’s major revenue-generating stores. The company reported average daily transactions of about Rs105 million across its network. Reopening them therefore meant restoring not just buildings, but the supply chain and customer-service systems supporting thousands of jobs.

For Gurung, rebuilding quickly was also about keeping the company functioning and its employees at work. “We considered our work a duty to the country and its citizens,” he said. “We moved forward despite everything that had happened.”