Over the years, Buffalo and its surrounding suburbs have experienced a notable increase in stores specializing in groceries from around the world.
Neighborhoods once dominated by small Italian markets offer today’s residents an abundance of specialty shops from which to choose. Stores featuring African, Latin American, Chinese, Eastern Indian, Burmese, Thai, Mexican, Vietnamese, Middle Eastern, Caribbean and Eastern European staples are easily found in the city and many of its suburbs.
This boom is likely a result of the influx of foreign-born residents over the last 20 years. As of 2019 Buffalo was home to almost 75,000 immigrants.
Among them is Kovan Menr, who took over ownership of Newroz Market on Hertel Avenue in 2016. Newroz is one of the area’s most venerable and highly rated Levantine grocers, specializing in pantry goods, fresh ingredients, cooking tools and tobacco.
“It’s so important that immigrants be able to find familiar foods. It mattered to my family when we moved here, and we want others to know they can find what they need at Newroz,” says Menr.
Newroz Market has been part of the North Buffalo community since 2013.
The store’s tidy shelves are neatly stocked with dry goods ranging from boxes of plump medjool dates and fresh honeycomb to coffees and teas. There’s also an assortment of halva, jams, pickles and nuts, and sweets such as baklava and kunafa. One shelf is lined with an array of rice, including fragrant yellow and red basmati rice, which serves as a staple in the diets of Kurds, Syrians and Iraqis.
In the cooler, shoppers will discover a wide selection of cheese and other dairy products, ranging from yogurts and fresh labneh to soft kaymak and Chicago-style cheese peppered with nigella seeds.
Fresh breads are baked daily at a local restaurant and sold through the market. Golden crusted samoon are a diamond-shaped yeasted bread traditionally served with hummus, kebab, and shawarma. Watani (sometimes spelled watany), is a subtly sweet flatbread bread popular in Egypt, Afghanistan and Lebanon. Khubz tannour, an Iraqi-style flat bread, is also available. These items are some of the shop’s most popular.
Halal lamb and beef can be found fresh and frozen, ground or seasoned and formed into kebabs or shawarma. Canned and cured meats, such as basterma, are included in the shop’s dry goods section.
A cooler of drinks is loaded with cold bottles of Sinalco soda and Barbican’s non-alcoholic drinks in flavors such as malt, strawberry, lime and peach.
Customers familiar with Middle Eastern food will find brands they recognize such as Baraka, Ziyad, Reef and Alreef.
Menr also operates two hookah salons and his access to the best hookah equipment means the shop’s customers do, too. At Newroz, hookah fans will find a good stock of natural charcoal and charcoal starters along with a wide variety of tobacco flavors, hookah equipment such as hoses and heads, as well as Middle Eastern cigarettes.
A modest selection of cookware and dishes and a modest selection of home goods round out the store’s offerings.
Newroz’s online reviews note cleanliness and selection as two of the store’s biggest strengths, but the comments recorded most often relate to the friendly and kind service shoppers find here.
“I know my customers well and they know me,” says Menr. “Customer service is very important to us.”
Menr’s dedication to his guests is reflected in Newroz’s store hours. Being open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week is a major undertaking for a family-owned business.
“We have people who shop here before and after work, and even late at night. We want our customers to know they can get what they need when they need it,” he says.
1175 Hertel Ave., Buffalo, 14216 | 716-208-2989
