If you haven’t yet visited the brand new location for Indian Groceries & Spices in Wauwatosa, you owe it to yourself to put at trip on your "to do" list. I recently took a tour of the new facility, and I’ll tell you first-hand that it was absolutely breathtaking.
For over 40 years, the Sanghavi family – comprised of Bharti, Dinesh, and their son Neil – has helped Milwaukee experience the delectable flavors of southern Asia, selling ingredients central to their native Indian cuisine.
Through their retail outlet and flagship store, first located on 25th and National Avenue, and since moved to a variety of locations including their new store at 10701 W. North Ave., their entrepreneurial enterprise has grown into a line of some 800 products of their own "Nirav" brand, popular cooking classes and a bustling retail website called iShopIndian.com.
The business also provides wholesale products to area restaurants, as well as 3,000 retailers around North America through distribution centers in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Houston and Toronto.
The business started off small, as a personal venture, allowing the family to continue eating the traditional foods they were used to in India. The shop offered essentials including spices, lentils and rice to a handful of Indian families, students and doctors living in the area. But, it has since grown into a mini-empire.
The new location, which is four times the size of their most recent store, is the largest Indian grocer in Wisconsin at over 11,000 square feet of retail and storage space. Shoppers will find an expanded line of fresh, ready-to-eat prepared meals, fresh produce, canned goods, rice, legumes, flours and an expansive array of more than 200 spices and spice blends. A grab-and-go deli also features snacks like samosas, kachoris and masala puffs.
"India is a very vast country, with varying cuisines in each region," says Neil Sangavi. "We accommodate with ingredients from North and South India, as well as everywhere in between.
Sanghavi notes that Indian Groceries & Spices has grown along with the increasing popularity of Indian cuisine in America. Many of the foods are wheat- and gluten-free, low in fat and loaded with vegetables – ideal for more health-conscious Americans.
The clientele has expanded from almost exclusively Indian and Pakistani shoppers in the 1970s to about a 50-50 split of Indian shoppers and everyone else.
Sangavi says that there are three main types of clientele that the store attracts – advanced home chefs looking for specialty ingredients, mid-level cooks looking for ingredients they can’t find in their neighborhood grocery stores, and novices who simply love Indian food and would like to be able to recreate the often complex flavors in the comfort of their own homes.
"We can accommodate all of them," he says. "All staff are trained to assist in helping customers understand the products we carry, and find exactly what they’re looking for."
And personal assistance can be a great boon to shoppers, especially when confronted with the more than 15 varieties of basmati rice that the store carries.
"Like wine, the rice improves the longer it’s aged," Sangavi explains. "We carry rice that’s been aged as little as one year, as well as higher end rice that’s been aged for two to three years."
Cooks of all levels will find a wide variety of cooking equipment and utensils, including pressure cookers which have grown widely popular for cooking lentils.
"Lentils which can take hours to cook normally cook up in about 15 minutes in a pressure cooker," Sangavi explains.
Gluten-free shoppers will be delighted with the wide variety of options, including a wide variety of gluten-free flours, grains, and packaged items. And vegetarians will be excited to note that the store is completely meat-free.
Serious foodies will love that the store carries specialty imported produce items like green coconuts, bitter melons, parwal, and fresh chickpeas, along with specialty items like Indian icecream and an extensive array of over 50 types of flatbreads.
For those who would like to learn more about Indian cooking, it’s worthwhile to note that Bharti Sangavi, the matriarch of the family business, is also the author of a self-published cookbook featuring vegetarian Indian cuisine. "Beyond the Curry with Bharti" ($28.95) which focuses on cooking techniques she learned from her mother and grandmother. It reflects the knowledge she gained while taking cooking classes in India, and attempts to bring the flavors of her home country to kitchens everywhere.
The new space will allow Bharti to hold her Indian Grocery Store cooking classes, which she has been offering for over 20 years at the Knights of Columbus in Greenfield. Cooking classes are advertised through the local newspaper, by word of mouth, and through the grocery store’s email list, which customers can sign up for online at iShopIndian.com.
