Long Beach grocer keeps it heimishe

With the expansion of kosher megastores in heavily Jewish neighborhoods throughout metropolitan New York coinciding with the demise of small haimishe bakeries, butchers and grocery stores, at least one small kosher shop is swimming against the tide on Long Island’s South Shore.

Shop Glatt Mart, at 172 E Park Ave. in Long Beach, is a tiny fraction of the size of Gourmet Glatt, Seasons, Brach’s or Pomegranate, but it’s large in soul and community impact.

Owned and operated by Moshe and Esti Zaghi since 1996, Shop Glatt Mart has been Long Beach’s frum food mainstay through thick and thin — including the destruction and economic vacuum wrought by Hurricane Sandy, and now the impending departure of the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, whose beachfront elementary school will soon relocate to Woodmere.

“After Sandy they were devastated,” said Dr. Chaim Wakslak, rav of the Young Israel of Long Beach and the store’s kosher supervisor. “They suffered a great deal. At one point they were thinking of not opening."

But the store “is critical to the community” and the couple “very much liked,” he said, and the Zaghis “got a substantial grant from the community to repair the damage and upgrade the store significantly. People have allegiance and know it is a valuable resource so they support it, go out of their way.”

The store reopened six weeks after Sandy, the Zaghis gradually repairing sections of the store while they operated the business.
In addition to tasty and attractive ready-to-eat fleishig items, and fresh meat and chicken prepared by an on-premises butcher, Shop Glatt Mart sells parve and packaged dairy products, including Cholov Yisrael, and will cater any local event.

Although the Zaghis emigrated from Iran in 1985, Moshe learned his cooking arts in an Ashkenazi, not Persian, kitchen, and worked at Meal Mart in Midwood before buying the Long Beach establishment (they have, however, added a number of Sephardic dishes to the takeout menu), The couple commutes from Brooklyn daily; Moshe says that it’s no big deal — after all, many of his Long Beach customers make the daily trek in reverse, to work in Manhattan. Their children live with them and go to school in Brooklyn.
As for competing with the larger kosher stores in the Five Towns and Brooklyn, Moshe talked about the personal touch that he and his wife use to operate their business.

“I make what I need for that day and whatever I have I sell. It’s homemade. I’m the owner and mostly I do the cooking, preparing and catering the way I like it, the way people like it. I sell a lot of takeout and everything is fresh.” Esti manages the store, said Moshe. “She’s the boss, we work together as a team.”

He said his prices are about the same as the larger stores but he maintains his prices all year round, without raising them for Passover. Moshe said his specialties include homemade knishes and Sephardic specialties including Persian rice and Syrian cigars. He added that his grilled chicken is “the best.”

Shop Glatt Mart’s customers come from throughout the South Shore, including Merrick, Oceanside and the Five Towns, as well as Long Beach, he said.

Long Beach is several miles from the more expansive shopping options in the Five Towns, making Shop Glatt an essential community resource, Rabbi Wakslak said. It is especially helpful to the area’s large senior population and it gives “people on the periphery [of kosher observance the option of] a reliable hashgacha as opposed to maybe not.”
“People call us and ask if we can drop off something in Long Beach on the way home. They ask the boss!” said Zaghi, laughing, and he does. “Nobody else would do that!”

Rabbi Wakslak noted that Long Beach is seeking to draw young couples to the community, and having a kosher food store — as well as a bakery, bagel store, Dunkin Donuts, eruv and mikveh — are important selling points.