A Little Store With Big Dreams
By Karina Parikh and Clara Oden
A Bangladeshi store owner honors the cultures of the different residents in Jackson Heights through her merchandise.
JACKSON HEIGHTS — For 22 years, Akota Grocery and Halal Meats has served the community of Jackson Heights with goods ranging from the typical convenience store Hershey bars to cans of Mexican Goya black beans to Halal meat. The grocery store, located on the intersection of Roosevelt Ave and 73rd Street, is owned by Ruba, a Bangladeshi immigrant.
Over the years, Ruba has picked up on the changes in this community and has adapted her store to cater a larger variety of customers.
“I want to make them happy,” Ruba said on Tuesday during an interview with students from the School of the New York Times. Wearing a polka dot hijab, Ruba added that she wants to provide her customers with food that will make them come back for more.
Ruba notices that there are more and more people immigrating to Jackson Heights from places all around the world. In response, she has made an effort to sell goods from many different cultures. In her store, locals can find items native to countries such as India, Bangladesh and Mexico. Those goods have greatly shaped her business.
Specifically, she notes the impact of Halal meat, which is very popular among the Muslim community. (Halal means that the preparation of food adheres to Islamic law.) According to Ruba, the meat is the store’s best-seller.
Coming from a different country herself, Ruba understands the feeling of moving somewhere new and having to encounter different people. “Everybody has a dream to come here,” Ruba said. She immigrated from Bangladesh in 1997 in hopes of greater opportunities for herself and her future. Although Ruba sometimes finds Jackson Heights to be overcrowded, she lives here with her family not only because of its adequate transportation and security, but most importantly, because it’s the perfect place for business.
Ruba juggles both her family responsibilities and her work. When her children were young, she would drop them off at school and then head to the store. Her face lit up when she spoke about their successes: One child is now in college and a second is bound there this year. She explained that she loves to work to support her children’s futures and wants them to achieve great things.
It is no wonder that Ruba named her store “akota,” a word she says means quality, friendliness and good nature. Ruba works to ensure that all of her customers have a good experience when they enter the store. She deeply values customer service and that’s what she believes sets her store apart from the dozens of grocery stores in the area. She is willing to have a conversation and interact with everyone that sets foot into her shop.
As Ruba likes to say: “Everyone has a dream.” And hers was fulfilled by this store.
