Rugs to Riches: Shop Owner Tells of Acheiving the 'American Dream'

In 1981 Saiyd Nagim's father advised the then 19-year-old to leave his native war-torn Afghanistan where Russian troops were literally grabbing young men off the street and enlisting them in the army.  

Nagim made his way to Pakistan and from there to New York where he arrived with only $11 in his pocket. He ended up in  Summit where a family friend owned the Chicken Holiday restaurant across the street from the train station.

In a pretty fair approximation of the American Dream, Nagim soon went from fry cook to restaurant boss.  Business improved and he decided to open a new branch of Chicken Holiday in Passaic and a third on South Orange Avenue in Newark. Life continued to improve over the next four years.

During that time Nagim was granted political asylum and in 1984, with temporary travel documents, he made plans to visit his father and brother, who were now living as refugees in Pakistan.

Nagim was appalled by conditions at the refugee camp where they were staying.  Some people were trying to make money with a cottage industry. They were weaving rugs, but were using inferior quality materials provided by European contacts.

Nagim tried to help out by bringing about 10 of the carpets back to the U.S. to sell to a large rug wholesaler in Secaucus.   He found there was a good market for the rugs, so he began to send materials to his brother in the refugee camp, who managed the weavers.  Nagim began his rug business while continuing to run the fast food restaurants.

His brother shipped the rugs to New Jersey and Nagim opened his first rug shop, Village Oriental Rugs in South Orange, where he was then living.  In 1993 he once again travelled to Pakistan to get married and that's where his first child was born.   Today he has six children—four boys and two girls—and lives with his family in downtown Millburn.

And the family has opened another rug shop, S.N.S. Rug Gallery, on the Short Hills end of Millburn Avenue.

Aside from S.N.S. Rug Gallery,  Nagim also owns a successful wholesale business located in Secaucus. He supplies over 250 rug stores in 46 states.  The rugs are all handmade and one-of-a-kind. Designs range from antique Persian to modern styles. He imports rugs from Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Egypt and they range from "scatter-rug" size to ones large enough for a mansion ballroom.