Islamic party store started by student

Islamic Party Store is dedicated to supplying party decorations for Islamic holidays and other celebrations.

Despite the huge population of Muslims within the UK, the availability of Islamic party decorations is extremely limited. Raima Butt, MSc Digital Business student, at the University of Salford Business School is looking to fill that gap.

Raima, from West London, said: “Every year I found myself buying the same decorations, there’s not much variety. You can’t really go out to the high street and buy Eid or Ramadan decorations.

“I saw a huge gap in the market for this and decided to open my own online store.”

She began selling decorations for Eid and Ramadan on Ebay and has now expanded her inventory to include an array of items for weddings and other celebrations on her own online store.

“Selling on Ebay used to be a hobby of mine. Around Eid 2020, I made the decision to begin selling decorations.

“I wasn’t expecting it to be so successful, but everything was selling out so fast. I expanded my product listing’s, and everything was selling out. That’s when I created my own website and made this my own business.

“Eventually, I want this to be my full-time job.”

Raima is receiving help from Launch@ Salford, the University of Salford’s incubator, to grow her online business. Launch was set up in 2018 in order to assist students and alumni in developing their own business. As part of a six-month support programme, users gain access to range of guidance and support, as well as office space and financial aid.

She said: “I know how to buy and sell products however, I didn’t know much about how to functionally run a business or the legal side of things.

“Launch has been fundamental in helping me understand this.”

She still sells partially with Ebay, alongside Islamic Party Store website but with the help from launch, Raima is hoping to solely trade on her site begin to work closer with supplier to create a wider variety of products to celebrate the religious holidays.

Paul Little, incubation manager at Launch@Salford said: “Raima has done really well so far with her business. Spotting gaps in the market is one of the key entrepreneurial skills to have and she also has the drive and passion to make her business succeed.”