Charlie Sahadi, owner
After closing its doors to renovate and to complete an extension into an adjacent storefront, Sahadi's, everyone's favorite Middle Eastern food store on Atlantic Avenue, has reopened its doors on Sunday.
Sahadi's has been a part of Brooklyn history since 1948, when it opened its original store at number 187 Atlantic Avenue. A first expansion in the late 1980's combined the storefront next door at # 189. During this latest renovation, an empty space at #191, which was once the home of Rachid Music , and in recent years served as a Holiday Shop for Sahadi, has been added by removing dividing walls.
Besides the tremendous spice, nuts, olive, and cheese selection that we all love and have come to rely on, the new space features a larger deli counter, a bakery section with bread oven, and lots more shelf space for specialty foods.
I must admit that it was a bit disorienting to walk into the new, shiny, brighter space since the old layout was just so familiar and charming. But I am sure that after a few visits and once the store is fully restocked, it will get some of its old feel back.
I stopped to say hi to Charlie Sahadi, the owner, on my way out and congratulated him on the expansion. "It's all my daughter's work. You should speak to her. She is the new generation," he told me. But he is not ready to retire. "What would I do with myself? I love working here." And then with a big smile, he added "Besides, then I wouldn't be able to see my customers any more."
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5 comments:
We are so lucky to have Sahadi's! It makes me so happy to see them expand even with Trader Joe's feet away. This neighborhood will always support them because they support the neighborhood.
Sahadi's is now a theme park. Count me out.
I love Sahadi's and will always be a loyal customer. Their French feta is mind blowing
Not a theme park. The "old" Sahadi store, while quaint, was not a particularly pleasant place to shop in. It was too cramped, too crowded, too easy to keep crashing into other shoppers, shelves obscured by long lines of people waiting to check out. As a long-time Sahadi customer, this is a welcome change, and it looks cleaner and fresher.
Same food bigger space. Bakery with oven? Baking what?
There's a middle eastern bakery two doors down.
It's always been a tourists spot but a fixture. I love and will always shop at Oriental Pastry across the street. Don't forget them. Trader joes is for lazy people with microwaves.
long live atlantic ave.
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