bajenaghe naghi

i have a crush on alex trebeck jan

thank you very much. this complement coming from a great blogger as you are means a lot. 

shazde asdola mirza jan

you are so right. 

Ebi jan

ghettout o' here :-)

ps. i know what you mean.  

باجناق جان: سرت سبز و سفره ات آباد باشه

به قول اصفهانی‌ ها، آب که میره به رودخونه، خودی بخوره بعض بیگونه!

Bajenaghe AZIZ !!!

No disrespect to you & other Iranian store/small business owners!!

As the saying in Farang goes:

You can take the.....out the Ghetto,but you can't take the ghetto out.......

Ebi aka Haaji

Kaveh Jaan

Yes,the famous.... Gedaa!!

Nowadays he has a big competetion around his store,there are at least four other Iranian markets in Rockville & Gaithursburg.I don't know how much you know him,but even the claim about the picture on the wall from Sarcheshmeh store in Tehran is not the real truth!!!!!

Hamshahri pas chers tark e diyaar kardi?!

cheers

Ebi aka Haaji

You always write nice blogs

Wow. I love your blogs and I just wanted to tell you this. I also know what Niki T. is talking about when she said that the etiquette of customers needs to improve at these shops. 

niki jan

if the store owner and his staff are nice to you, then please put up with the rude customers. i bet you the owner and his staff are fed up with these people too. may be in time these people will die off and their children will be more human than them, a type of natural selection or some thing like that. :-)

Ebi jan

that was a great story which tells us that most iranian business people - both men and women- think, as kaveh says it, are doing us a favor to provide us with their business. and by doing so, they can be rude as hell and damagh be hava. it is like any other business you go to in iran where they go out of their way to ignore you and make you wait till they are good and ready. it is shame but it seems that this is the way most iranians think business should be run.  

Ebi jaan

Are you talking about the place I think you're talking about on Rockville Pike? I remember a few instances when the guy acted like he's doing everyone a favor by being in business rather than realizing that everyone is doing him the favor by keeping him in business.

It's a shame. Considering how the community made him very financially secure, I hoped that it had changed somewhat.

To be honest

most of the time, I end up shopping at the big chain supermarket close to my house instead of the mom and pop Iranian grocery market.  This is despite experimenting with many different supermarkets, big chain, small chain, different ethnicities and coming to the conclusion that the Iranian beats any other place hands down in prices and quality (freshness) of their products.  With a toddler in tow, I really can't afford the war zone of the parking lot, the old, unstable and rusty shopping carts that look like they were picked up from a dump site, and the extremely EXTREMELY rude people.  And by that I absolutely don't mean the staff, who has always been warm and friendly, with a smile on their face, but the other customers, who think nothing of crashing into your cart at full speed if you are in the way of their noon barbari or cutting in line or ...sigh

Bajenaghe AZIZ !!!

Be ghole ma'roof :baraaye rooye khoshet miyaan!! That's the case for me!.

I live in MD & work in VA ! daily commute of nearly 90 miles !.There is a Persian store only 3 miles away from I live(the first one opened in Md & Va more than 20 years ago) & another one 15 miles further down in VA from where I work.Like many other Iranians living in Montgomery county, I used to be the customer of the one near my home,but that's not the case for more than 3 years(though still I go to the restaurant next to the store(they're owned by the same person)near my home to have a Pors of delicious Chelokabab,but I do my shopping at the other one in VA(once a week),simply for the reason that the guy doesn't have "rooye khosh",is rude & still thinks he is running his dad's store in "Sarcheshmeh -Tehran'!!.I may sound stupid to you but many people have stopped shopping there just for the simple reason I mentioned,otherwise the prices are the same & actually his fruits & vegetables have a better quality than the one in VA.

Ali jaan,chaakerim!.

BTW

I've heard from friends that recently he tries to be nice to the customers & says Hello to them!!

cheers

Ebi aka Haaji

To: IRANdokht

I agree with you 100% !

You give me what I want (be it low price, high quality, good service, comradery,a hug,...etc.) and I patronize your business.

 You are giving me what I want ; no need to thank me.

Stop giving me what I want, and I am history...

kaveh jan

thank you for your comments. money can be a real divider and their lies the root of many of our problems. 

ali jan

i also do not frequent any iranian businesses that are so proud and unfriendly that do not talk to me or at least smile when i enter their store or ask them a question. for me price is secondary, but they should not try to steal me naked just for being an iranian and entering their establishment, either. but all being equal, i do tend to give my business to iranians knowing how hard things are and how hard we as iranians work. 

Ali P.

True, "tahveelam migiran" and also the prices are better than reasonable and the fruits are local and fresh too.

Don't you think everyone has certain priorities? some pick low price over quality, some don't. Some think convenience is most important, some go for variety of products...

I was asking BN to make up for whatever they might be missing by giving away a little incentive and make them feel good about sticking around.

IRANdokht

redwine jan

i agree with you. we iranians are very special people.

anonymous fish jan

thank you for your comments.

irandokht jan

it is some times difficult to go to small shops like mine and find every thing you need. some times it is necessary to go to the big ones and i do the same. 

That's great to hear

Thank you for sharing this. It's very touching.

Too often, money, or the lack of it, divides family and friends, both in good times as well as in not so good times. This is a refreshing change of pace.

I don't know...

They are always using that logic to make us buy from Iranians. "Recycle the Dollar in the community", they tell me.

But why?

  If your food sucks, your prices are high, and you have an attitude, don't count on me to support your restaurant, just because you are Iranian!!

By the same token, if your food is good, your prices are reasonable, and you have a good attitute, not only me, but the black guy, the Korean and the American jew would come to your eatery and spend money. Should THAT not be the determining factor, rather than nationality?? 

The bottom line, is that we- all of us as consumers- are looking out for our own interest.

  What attracts us to a store, is the combination of their service , and price. If one is lousy and cannot make up for the other one, hell no, we won't go there!

I go to my local chelo-kababi , because the kid is friendly and the food and the price are good. Make no mistake:IRANdokht goes to her favorite store, because tahveelesh meegeeran and she gets fresh nuts or something.

BN jaan, I bet your prices are reasonable, you have people's skills and maybe you are lootee enough to give your friends a discount, here and there.

 Otherwise, your friends may love you, but they do their shopping where they can save a buck or two.

 That's the way it is, and that's the way it should be.

...

هيچ ملتي مثل ما ايرونيا نيست...عجبا !

that is truly heartwarming

thanks for sharing this lovely story!

How sweet!

I do most my shopping at Trader Joe's and this really nice small baghaali in Glendale.

Trader Joe's is close by so I stop over when I am in a hurry but to shop for fresh fruits, vegetables, persian stuff and Arezuman products I drive quite a distance to this little Armanian baghali. The nice owner knows I travel long distance, and he knows I pass by a lot of big markets to get there, so he always gives me nobari (gojeh sabz, albaloo, etc...) or an extra something like fresh barbari or dried golden plums.

I hope you're giving them a special gift or a discount too!  :0)

IRANdokht