TWO years in, and owners of the Keppel Street Newsagency have earned themselves another reason to celebrate.
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On October 29, the newsagent was announced as the Community Newsagent of the Year at the National Lotteries and Newsagents Association NSW Awards for 2025.
It's the second year in a row that the newsagent has won the award, after taking out the title in 2024, just one year after Abhishek Jariwala and Urvish Damwala took over as owners of the staple Bathurst business.
Coming home with the win in 2025 is something that Mr Damwala said will become a core memory.
Though Mr Jariwala was unable to attend, as he had to continue the great work of the Keppel Street Newsagency, Mr Damwala was able to share the moment with his wife and his parents, who had travelled from India.
"It was very good, it was a very happy moment," he said.
"My parents were very happy. They don't even know English, but they came along, and they were very proud; it was a good night."
Mr Damwala said he was especially proud because, ahead of their ownership of Keppel Street Newsagency, he had rarely been on the receiving end of awards.
But their hard work has paid off.
"In my life, we haven't had any awards, but whatever we're doing here, and with the support from the customers, it's become possible," he said.
And since coming home with the win, this support from customers has continued.
"It's been very good support. Each and every customer who comes into the store has said, 'You guys are doing an amazing job," Mr Damwala said.
This not only earned the newsagent a win at the awards, but also nominations in two other categories.
"We were told that we were nominated in three different categories, the first one was Newsagent of the Year, the second one was Community Newsagent of the Year, and NSW Newsagent of the Year," Mr Damwala said.
"I didn't know if we were going to win or not."
But, win they did.
Thank you to Bathurst
As a result, Mr Damwala had to make a speech in front of hundreds of guests at the award night.
"We were told that if we won, we had to go on the stage and give at least a one or two-minute speech, and never in my life have I had to stand in front of 150 people, but I was very lucky because I had prepared just enough," he said.
In his speech, Mr Damwala said he thanked all of the customers for their continued support and the Bathurst community as a whole for being so welcoming since they purchased the business in 2023.
Now, he said that he hopes the Keppel Street Newsagency can make it three wins in a row for the Community Newsagent Award in 2026.
"Hopefully we can get three in a row," Mr Damwala said.
