At just 23 years old, Sabra Kader found herself rebuilding a life she never imagined she would have to.
Five years earlier she had left Bradford as a newlywed, excited to begin a new chapter in Dubai. She returned carrying three young children, the youngest only eight months old, after the sudden death of her husband.
Everything she had planned for her future disappeared overnight.
“I had a life there,” she recalls. “When my husband died I had to leave Dubai and come back to England. It was a hard time, my children were so young, but it was good to come back to family.”
For many women, returning home as a widow in their early twenties would be daunting. Within many South Asian communities, widowhood has often carried an unspoken stigma.
But Sabra never had to face it alone.
Waiting for her in Bradford was a family that wrapped itself around her.
Her parents stepped in to help raise three young children, while her younger brothers, Vaseem and SaleemKader became another layer of protection and support. In a family where tradition may have expected the sons to lead, there was never any question that Sabra would be given the time and space she needed to heal.
That support would become the foundation upon which she rebuilt her confidence.
It also brought her back to a place that had quietly shaped her entire childhood.
Bombay Stores.
Long before she became the woman leading one of Britain’s oldest and the UK’s first Asian Department Store – Bombay Stores was simply where she grew up.
“My earliest memories are of my dad spending a lot of time abroad purchasing stock,” she says. “Me and my brother would come home from
school and there were always new people around stocking shelves.
“We grew up with Bengalis, Pakistanis and Indians. We never thought, ‘He’s Indian’ or ‘He’s Pakistani’. Everyone was just part of the business.”
Those memories reflected the values her parents, Abdul and Maryam Kader, had built the business upon.
When Abdul first arrived in Britain, he had little more than determination. He swept factory floors before becoming a bus conductor and later a bus driver, saving enough money to open Bombay Stores in 1967.
At first, it was a modest corner shop.
But as Bradford’s South Asian community grew, so did demand for fabrics, wedding wear and traditional clothing.
Maryam became just as important to the business’s success, sewing sari blouses and shalwar kameez’ for customers while raising the family.
Together, they built far more than a shop.
Bombay Stores became part of Bradford’s South Asian story.
Families returned generation after generation, buying outfits for weddings, Eid celebrations and life’s biggest milestones.
When Sabra returned to Bradford after losing her husband, the business offered more than employment.
It gave her purpose.
“It was a good distraction from the grief,” she says. “I just got myself busy in the family business and haven’t looked back since.”
Every day spent serving customers became another small step towards rebuilding her confidence.
Although she was the founders’ daughter, Sabra never walked straight into management.
Like everyone else, she started on the shop floor.
She worked long hours, served customers, organised stock and learned every department of the business before gradually taking on greater responsibility.
There were opportunities to become more involved much earlier.
But for Sabra, another responsibility always came first.
Her children.
With three young children to raise, becoming a full-time mother mattered more than becoming the next leader of Bombay Stores.
The business could wait.
Her family could not.
“My children were so young when we returned,” she says. “It was difficult, but they ended up getting a great education at grammar school.”
Only once they were older did Sabra begin taking on a greater leadership role.
Ten years ago, Sabra and her son, Samir Kader, took over the running of Bombay Stores, determined not only to protect the legacy her parents had created but to ensure it continued to evolve.
Following the death of her father in 2020, that responsibility became even greater.
For Sabra, however, preserving a legacy has never meant standing still.
While Bombay Stores remains at the heart of the family business, she has transformed what was once a single retail store into a diverse business group.
Under her leadership came Mumbai Bites, an award-winning street food restaurant and outdoor catering business that has earned a reputation for serving some of the finest authentic Mumbai street food in the region.
Recognising the challenges facing independent retailers, she also launched Bombay Bazaar, now one of the UK’s largest indoor Asian marketplaces, bringing together more than 100 independent traders under one roof and creating a vibrant hub for entrepreneurs, families and the wider community.
Alongside this, Sabra also oversees Rio Grande, the family’s established wedding and conference venue, making her responsible for four very different businesses, each serving the community in its own way.
It is a remarkable destination for someone whose own journey was never mapped out.
At 18, she left Bradford to begin married life in Dubai.
By 23, she had three children and was suddenly widowed.
She returned home having lost the future she had imagined, with little opportunity to pursue higher education and every reason to put her own ambitions on hold while raising her young family.
Yet today she leads one of Bradford’s best-known family business groups.
Her son and daughter-in-law now help drive the business forward, while her daughters have each built successful careers of their own.
Looking around Bombay Stores today, Sabra still sees her parents everywhere.
She sees her father’s determination.
She sees her mother’s kindness.
She sees the values that turned a small corner shop into a cornerstone of Bradford’s South Asian community.
Nearly 60 years after Abdul and Maryam Kader first opened Bombay Stores, their daughter walks through the same doors every morning, not simply as the guardian of their legacy, but as a leader who has built one of her own.
She didn’t just inherit a family business.
She reimagined it.
And in doing so, the young widow who returned from Dubai with three children has quietly become one of Bradford’s most influential businesswomen.
