With Bamba and authentic hummus, an Israeli ‘makolet’ grows in NYC

NEW YORK — Holyland Market is geographically located in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, but a peruse through its narrow aisles takes you straight to Israel. Stocked almost entirely with Israeli products, one could easily be convinced that they’re having a snack attack in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Kiryat Shmona or Ashkelon.

If you haven’t heard or been to any of those four cities though, walking into the mini-mart on St. Marks Place will likely make for a puzzling experience.

Such was the case last week when a young Latino man in his 20s wandered into Holyland and asked the cashier where the juice was. After being pointed toward the back of the store, the customer, bedecked with a sleeve of tattoos on both arms, walked through the refrigerated section before slowing to study the products he clearly wasn’t accustomed to seeing.

Maybe it was the stacks upon stacks of hummus, and cabbage salad, spicy matbucha and eggplant-based dips that threw him off. Or perhaps it was the bags of Bamba, Bisli and Hebrew-emblazoned Doritos junk food on the opposite shelves that gave him pause.

The ‘salatim’ section of Holyland Market in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan on August 11, 2020. (Jacob Magid/Times of Israel)

Whatever it was, it appeared to be enough to have the young man mutter “what the f**k” under his breath before he finally noticed the juices stacked next to the Hashachar chocolate spread and large plastic containers of halva.

But while he seemed initially relieved to have found what he was looking for, that feeling quickly dissipated when his eyes finished scanning through the bottles of flavored Prigat-brand juice.

“You don’t have any normal brands like Dole or Tropicana?” he shouted from the back of the store.

“No, sorry,” the cashier responded. “But the brands we do have are just as good.”

Apparently unconvinced, the first-time customer headed toward the door. On his way, he passed an Israeli man who was talking on the phone in Hebrew.

This sabra headed straight to the tahini section, grabbed a container of Har Bracha and headed to the check-out counter.

A customer checks out at the Holyland Market in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan on August 11, 2020. (Jacob Magid/Times of Israel)

‘You can’t download Bamba’

Holyland owner Eran Hileli said both customer experiences witnessed by this reporter are rather typical for the East Village bodega.

“I have millions of stories,” he said during a phone interview with The Times of Israel. “You learn to immediately recognize the types of people who walk in and have no idea where they are.”

“They see the Israeli flags [hung above the check-out counter] and try to investigate a bit more, but you know not to spend too much energy on them because they often won’t buy much.

“Then you have the Israelis who come in and try to argue with you over prices, not understanding why they’re not as low as in the shuk [Israeli open aired markets],” he said somewhat amused. “But then there are many good people who don’t complain, buy what they need and just thank you for existing.”

The 48-year-old Givatayim native opened Holyland in 2004. Hileli sold music at a record store from the same location beforehand and described the transition as a matter of “survival.”

Holyland owner Eran Hileli. (Courtesy)

“The industry was changing. People weren’t really buying music anymore,” he lamented, saying customers would enter the store, listen to music and then go home to purchase it on the computer.

“But you can’t download Bamba,” he joked, explaining his decision to start selling the peanut butter-flavored puffed corn snack along with hundreds of other Israeli products that line Holyland’s shelves.

Business flooded in at the get-go thanks to the mini-mart’s location in the heart of the East Village, or what Hileli termed as “Little Israel.”

From a makolet to a museum

“When I opened, I was the only one in Manhattan selling these products,” he said, recalling initial years of prosper that peaked as the 2008 financial crisis hit.

At that point, many Israelis — who at the time were 80 percent of his clientele — fled the city, forcing him to adapt in a way that would attract other customers as well. Now, Israelis make up roughly 60% of his customers, while the remainder are an even split of American Jews and everyone else.

Hileli credited the growing American taste for Mediterranean products, such as hummus and even grape-leaves, for giving his business a jolt of new regular customers who know they can rely on Holyland to provide them with their Middle Eastern cravings year-round.

Still, the sabras buy the most, Hileli said.

The tahini shelf at Holyland Market in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan on August 11, 2020. (Jacob Magid/Times of Israel)

“They’re the big shoppers who come for their Atlit [Turkish coffee], their Kariot [nougat creme-filled breakfast cereal] and their Osem soup mix,” he said, differentiating Israelis from American-born shoppers who more often suffice with one or two products per visit.

Nonetheless, the new surge in clients has meant offering a larger variety of non-Israeli products such as chips and beers, which are essentials at New York bodegas.

“There are lots of people who come in for chips, and on the way they discover a unique place that I like to think of as a museum,” Hileli said, while later admitting that the mini-mart does not always inspire such inquisitiveness from everyone in the area.

In the midst of the recent racial protests following the police killing of George Floyd, Holyland received several phone calls from disgruntled Americans saying the shop supports “a country that is killing Palestinians. They’d curse us and hang up,” Hileli said.

“Then again, we’ve also had people come in shouting stuff about Jesus and then running out. New York is full of crazy people,” he added.

Holyland Market in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan on August 11, 2020. (Jacob Magid/Times of Israel)

Gathering of the expats

The shopping experience is rather different for Israeli customers. The Holyland owner said they are not merely coming to buy what they need and leave, rather they’re there for a schmooze.

“They wants to speak about Bibi, they wants to speak about Trump, they wants to speak about their lives,” Hileli said.

But unlike the standard mini-mart or makolet in Israel, which typically only serves its local area, Holyland uniquely draws expat customers who hail from all over Israel.

“And that means you have to have products that satisfy all of them because the Jerusalem natives have very different tastes than those from Tel Aviv or those from Haifa,” said Hileli.

In recent years, Holyland has also been forced to compete with the city’s Kosher supermarkets that have also began selling Israeli products, as well as the larger grocery chains such as Fairway and Seasons that can offer them at cheaper prices.

However, Hileli said he has been able to remain in business by “keeping expenses low and not getting greedy with my income.”

“You have to know how to play the game,” he said with quintessentially Israeli certitude.

Shelves stocked with Bamba, Bisli and Doritos at Holyland Market in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan on August 11, 2020. (Jacob Magid/Times of Israel)

‘A memory in a bottle’

Asked how he can afford to rely so heavily on goods imported from Israel given their added costs, Hileli acknowledged that he has to sell them at slightly higher rates.

“But they’re not too expensive,” he assured, pointing out that “Israeli products are considered high quality, so people are willing to pay more for them, just like they are with French or Italian ones.”

“People are always asking for the replacement to Israeli products such as the 5% soft [white] cheese, but there really isn’t one,” he claimed, referring to the classic Israeli breakfast staple.

But even taking into account the Israelis who cannot live without Bamba or Milky (frothy, whipped cream-topped chocolate pudding) or the various Mediterranean spices offered at Holyland, the decision to reserve several shelves for Israeli shampoos appeared perplexing.

But Hileli assured that the product sells, thanks in no small part to what  he called “nostalgia.”

The shampoo shelf at Holyland Market in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan on August 11, 2020. (Jacob Magid/Times of Israel)

“It’s a memory in a bottle,” he said. “I open it and it immediately takes me back to the shower I’d take after returning from a day at the Tel Aviv beach.”

And he doesn’t just carry sabra shower products, but made-in-Israel cleaning supplies as well. Hileli claimed many of his Israeli customers swear by the brands made in the Jewish state.

“The smells stays longer on your clothes, whereas the Tide brand detergent immediately wears off,” he said with disdain.

But it’s not just Israelis that are taking advantage of Holyland’s unique products. Hileli said the matches and candles he sells are big hits with customers of all backgrounds.

Milky products at Holyland Market in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan on August 11, 2020. (Jacob Magid/Times of Israel)

“With the American candles, you light them and after one or two hours they’re finished. But my Israeli memorial candles can last up to 26 hours,” he boasted, adding that he even sells them in bulk to area restaurants.

Holding out till the holidays

Like all grocery stores, Holyland has been forced to adapt in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. But Hileli said his mini-mart did well during the pandemic’s early months, benefiting from the desire of panic-ridden Americans desire to stock their pantries to the brim.

“Our online delivery services has existed for two years, but it’s really taken off since the coronavirus,” Hileli said.

However, business has slowed since May as students and young professionals have bolted the expensive city to work and study online elsewhere.

“It’s a new challenge, but I’m trying to wait things out until the [High] Holidays when hopefully things will get better,” he said with a healthy dose of optimism.

The dessert section in Holyland Market in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan on August 11, 2020. (Jacob Magid/Times of Israel)

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