By CANDACE BEATY, Daily Journal of Johnson County staff writer
When hundreds of Indian families who live in Johnson County sit down to dinner tonight, many will eat Indian dishes made with traditional ingredients.
Most of those meals call for special spices and even a special flour that a typical supermarket doesn't stock.
As the population grows more diverse on the southside, ethnic food stores have opened to cater to these growing groups who want to cook like they did back home.
Three Indian grocery stores in Greenwood and a Croatian-Bosnian store in Franklin offer seasonings, boxed mixes and ingredients for favorite dishes from each culture.
The Croatian-Bosnian store opened this month to serve the European natives. About 20 families from the countries live in Franklin, and many more live in Indianapolis, store owner Loreta Balagic said.
While chain supermarkets have added aisles dedicated to ethnic food, local ethnic store owners aren't worried business will suffer. The smaller stores don't need as many customers, expecting as few as 100 a month or as many as 400 a week.
Shoppers likely won't find frozen chhole chapati, an Indian dish, or tomato peppers stuffed with cabbage, a Croatian favorite, at the major supermarkets.
Grocery stores aren't the only institutions that have changed to serve the more diverse population. Clark-Pleasant Schools have adjusted to serving more students from India, expanding English-as-a-second-language programs and organizing multicultural educational events.
The southside also has seen in increase in Hispanic population, but no Hispanic grocery stores have opened in Johnson County.
When Greenwood resident Usha Bosadi needs groceries, she heads to an Indian grocer such as Desi Bazar in Greenwood.
Bosadi said she will stop in the store weekly or visit other stores in Indianapolis.
She cooks with Indian rice and flour every day, which she'll pick up at one of the specialty stores. She'll buy fresh vegetables at a chain supermarket, but most food is purchased at an Indian store, Bosadi said.
Istra Market and Asian Grocer and Home of Spices, the other two Indian grocery stores in Greenwood, cater to shoppers such as Bosadi who know they can't find the same ingredients at the large supermarkets.
India native Jimmy Singh opened Desi Bazar in April 2006 at Main Street and Emerson Avenue because of its proximity to a large Indian population. Many families in the 250-home subdivision Homecoming at University Park are from India, he said.
About 500 Indian families live on the southside, and Singh said he sees 300 to 400 customers a week.
Most of the food stocked in the store comes from vendors in Chicago, Detroit, New York and California. Singh travels to Chicago once or twice a month to pick up goods, he said.
Singh moved from India to California in 1998. Because home prices were too high on the West Coast, he moved in Indiana in 2005.
With a large Indian population, Singh decided to open the grocery store to compete with the smaller stores already open on the southside, he said.
Desi Bazar will expand this year to offer a bakery, seating and freshly made snacks, Singh said.
Even as chain grocery stores add ethnic food aisles and expand their offerings of ingredients special to other areas of the world, the owners of small local stores aren't worried.
Items at the chain stores don't sell as quickly, so they sit on the shelves and are not as fresh, Singh said.
He said he keeps his prices competitive with larger stores and offers a much larger selection. Customers don't want to have to go to multiple places to find what they need, he said.
At Asian Grocers, owner Rubinder Virk said she needs about 100 regular customers to stay afloat. She also owns an Indian clothing store next to the food market, which is the bigger money maker, she said.
The best-selling items are necessities such as flour, rice and lentils. When customers shop at the clothing store Shingaar, they can pick up a few food items they may need, she said.
Asian Grocer was the first Indian food store to open in Greenwood in March 2006, Virk said.
While the three Indian grocery stores in Johnson County have the advantage of a growing Indian population, the Croatian-Bosnian store will have to reach customers farther away.
Istra Market, opened May 12 in Franklin. The store sells foods favored by people from the European countries Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia.
"It's nothing strange," Balagic said of the items carried in the store. "We don't eat snake."
Owners are sending out fliers to families in Indianapolis and on the northside since the store is the first of its kind in central Indiana.
About 20 Croatian or Bosnian families live in the Franklin area, but Balagic said she hopes to appeal to large area. Many people are used to driving to Chicago or Louisville, Ky., to buy Croatian food, Balagic said.
In the store's first weekend, about 40 customers shopped each day, co-owner April Weller said. Ideal business would be for every day to be like that, she said.
As the store develops its customer base, it will need about 160 customers a week to succeed, Weller said.
The Croatian cuisine is influenced by Mediterranean and Russian food and includes mainstays such as breads, pastas, peppers and olives, Istra Market business partner Angie Isbell said.Few items carried by Istra Market will be found at Wal-Mart, Weller said.
"There is a reason we're a specialty store," she said. "The store sells fresh food that can't be found in other grocery stores."
With three small tables and chairs already set up, Istra Market owners hope to add Italian cappuccinos and desserts to their offerings in the next month. Wine could be added to the list of products in the next six months, Balagic said.