Washington Post names Bhattarai its retail reporter

Washington Post national economy and business editor David Cho, deputy business editor Zachary Goldfarb and local business editor Daniel Byers sent out the following announcement on Wednesday:

We are excited to announce that Abha Bhattarai will become The Post’s retail reporter.

Since joining the newsroom in 2010, Abha has covered a range of businesses, with a focus on local retail, banking and hospitality. She has demonstrated a passion for the topic, an ability to see trends within the business, and a penchant for on-the-ground reporting of ideas and news.

She once camped out overnight in a Kohl’s parking lot to write about retailers’ desperate holiday efforts, and has recently written about how the Trump administration has affected Washington businesses, with strip clubs tuning their televisions to CNN and Capitol Hill bars stocking up on Bud Light.

More recently, Abha has covered Amazon’s takeover of Whole Foods, the demise of Toys R Us and the improbable comeback of Crocs. She has also written for the Magazine, Style and Metro sections.

Before coming to The Post, Abha was a James Reston Reporting Fellow at The New York Times, where she covered the Great Recession and white-collar crime.

Abha is a native of Austin, Texas, and a graduate of Northwestern University. She lives in Washington with her husband, Pedro, and daughter, Mila.