Trending Topics
Year of the Horse 
All over the world, people will be celebrating the Lunar New Year on February 17, and welcoming the Year of the Fire Horse. One of the twelve Asian zodiac animals, the horse is a powerful presence that is said...
Deadly Mushrooms 
Foraging for mushrooms? Don’t die.  That’s the message from California Poison Control this winter. Thirty-five people have gotten sick so far this season after consuming death cap mushrooms they mistook for edible varieties. Three of the victims needed liver...
The Palisades Fire: One Year Later 
Life changed for everyone in Pacific Palisades, Topanga and Malibu on January 7 2025. A year after the Palisades Fire those who live or work in its shadow still aren’t used to the endless roadwork, the delays, the road...
Retrospective: Pacific Palisades-Paradise Lost 
Originally published in the February 21, 2025 issue of Topanga New Times The Palisades fire is named for the Palisades Highlands, where the blaze erupted on the morning of January 7, 2025. The conflagration rapidly spread throughout Pacific Palisades...
Baanda: A Topanga-Born Bazaar for Small Businesses
NewsBeat

Baanda: A Topanga-Born Bazaar for Small Businesses 

Topanga residents, Gabrielle Mittelbach & Jit Mukherjee

Created by longtime canyon residents Jit and Gaby, Baanda was born out of a simple observation: small business owners are managing more than ever. They are creators, service providers, and problem solvers, and they are also expected to be tech-savvy marketers, operations managers, and customer support teams all at once. In addition to the bustle of daily operations, small businesses of the region have experienced hardship brought on by the wildfires from earlier last year.

Baanda is built like a bazaar, the online counterpart to the farmers’ markets and local fairs many of us rely on. It brings independent shops, makers, and service providers into one digital space where they can be seen, browsed, and supported. The goal is not to mimic large platforms but to offer something that feels more organic and local.

What sets Baanda apart is the way it handles the operational side of running a business. Instead of juggling spreadsheets, apps, and scattered systems, vendors can manage everything in one place. Baanda includes tools for inventory tracking, order and booking management, messaging, customer relationships, and storefront organization. These are practical tools designed with the understanding that most small business owners do not have time to become tech specialists in addition to the work they already do.

The platform is intentionally accessible. Baanda operates with straightforward pricing that remains manageable as a business grows. And to give vendors room to settle in, experiment, and build momentum, the platform is free for the first six months.

At its core, Baanda is an effort to strengthen the ecosystem that already exists here. It offers small businesses a place to operate with more efficiency, reach wider audiences, and maintain the individuality that makes them worth supporting.

In any community, shared spaces matter. They give neighbors a chance to encounter one another in ways that feel natural and genuine. An online bazaar extends that possibility beyond a single morning or weekend. It allows people to support local businesses at any time, discover new vendors they might not meet otherwise and participate in a form of community building.

Baanda carries that intention forward by giving Topanga the kind of marketplace that reflects the life and creativity of the canyon itself.

Visit baanda.com and get all the details. 

Related posts

Leave a Reply

Required fields are marked *