Happy by Ahu

Happy by Ahu shop view from the street

Happy by Ahu is a very cute little shop located on Bahçe Sokak about one half block away from Cafe Corner. Ahu Köse is the proud owner of this shop in Kaş. She says her friends are also her family and they help her work the shop. Her story, like so many Kaş residents is one of trial, error and many travels both within her heart and on the road.

Ahu in her Happy shop

Ahu was born and raised in İzmit (Kocaeli) which is approximately 100 km east of Istanbul. Ahu has an older brother who is the father of her six month old niece and a corporate trainer for sales and personnel development. Her father was a professional politician and member of the Turkish Parliament for many years before his retirement. He was also the mayor of İzmit for seven years. Since his retirement he likes to sing Turkish songs. Ahu loves her family and says she is good friends with them.

She went to elementary school and then on to Seymen Kolej, a private high school where she first studied English. After graduation from high school she attended Bilkent University in Ankara and studied American Culture and Literature. After she graduated from Bilkent she moved to Istanbul.

In Istanbul, she worked in many different jobs trying to find her place. She worked in a bank and an advertising agency, she was a TV soap opera costumer and a producer for advertising jingles on television. Ahu travelled a lot during that time and in 1992, she took a road trip with her brother throughout Europe starting in Istanbul. They ended up in Germany and she stayed there for almost three months learning the culture and some of the language. She visited Budapest during that trip and liked it very much. In 1997, she travelled to the United States for a holiday of a month. She has also travelled to Bali, Indonesia. It appears that her travels have helped her gain a large perspective of the world and its people. She seems to be a very kind and generous person open to all sorts of people and cultural differences while believing we are all the same deep inside.

Inside Happy by Ahu

Ahu was married for several years while living in Istanbul and says that they discussed moving to a place by the sea but they stayed in the city. After her divorce she decided that she would seek her place by the sea and in June of 2008, she travelled with her cat all along the Turkish coast. When she came to Kaş she felt that she had found some place special that appealed to her and decided that this was her place even though she knew no one at the time. Her first encounter was with Nur and Erdem of the Hideaway Café. They quickly became friends and Erdem helped her find a job in Echo Bar to support herself. Later she took a job in a sandal shop on Uzun Çarşı and worked there for two years.

Ahu is writing a book about her “felsefe,” her philosophy. She has given herself three years to write this story about herself, her feelings, her psychology and her inner self. Since she was a child she has written in journals and after rereading some of her earlier writing she decided to put together her story. She is a many-faceted person: she is an open water scuba diver, she plays side flute for musical expression, she works with others to put on plays for her theatrical expression and she has her shop.

Happy by Ahu opening night in Kaş, Tuırkey

Late last year her brother told her that if she put together a sound business plan he would help her get started. In two months she put it all together and he approved it. They then started to look for a place and found her current location on Bahçe Sokak about one half block away from Café Corner on Likya Cad. She had no previous experience with a shop but it seems she has accomplished a lot in a short time. Ahu hosted a street party in celebration of her official opening on Friday, May 20. Her friends performed a street theatre skit, others had a “fashion show” of sorts , there was a fire poi performance by Emre Çevikel of Bougainville Diving, and her father sang for her. It was quite an occasion. An interesting, well attended evening! (See her Facebook Photos of the event!)

Inside the Happy shop

Ahu believes in using all natural materials in her shop. For instance the racks she uses are made of wood and copper. She sells a variety of items, most of which are either hand made or made of natural materials. She has hats, handbags, scarves, swim suits and dresses. Currently she buys some items in Istanbul but many of her items are handmade. One friend makes the dresses, another the handbags and a friend from Holland makes her jewellery. She also sells hand made and hand embroidered shirts made by a group of women who live in Amasya Village near Samsun on the Black Sea. These women also make toys from mısır koçanı, or corn cobs. These women receive a grant from the EU for their cooperative and a teacher from the region thought that Happy would be a perfect place to sell their products. (More photos of her shop here!) AND our BT Picasa Web Album!

Ahu has many Kaş friends now and they help her with the long hours. Her shop is open from 10:00 am until 11:00 pm every day during the summer months. Please take the opportunity to visit Ahu at Happy and see why they are so happy. If you are lucky she will make you a cup of her delicious Turkish coffee!

Ahu loves living in Kaş and uses her shop as an expression of her feelings about living here; she is Happy!
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