Dec 3, 2007

Out-of-towners flocking to ethnic shopping districts in boroughsBy Veronika BelenkayaNYDailyNews.com

Lucky Sherpa and Brighton Beach shoppers find ethnic neighborhoods are place to go.

Her arms laden with Russian delicacies, Elena Leschenko scoured the shelves of her favorite Brighton Beach food store.

She had snapped up her husband’s much-loved meat sauce, herring, kielbasa, caviar and cans of Russian pickles. She wanted to make sure she wasn’t forgetting anything before beginning the 250-mile journey back home to New Haven.

Leschenko, who regularly drives hours to buy her groceries in Brooklyn, is one of a growing number of customers returning to the city’s immigrant neighborhoods to get a taste of home.

A new report by the think tank Center for an Urban Future shows ethnic shopping districts are thriving, and attracting customers from all over.

“We buy everything, always the pickles, sweets, herring, of course caviar — it’s like a fish coming back to water,” said Leschenko, 43. “In New Haven, where we live, there’s a decent Russian community, but there’s only one tiny Russian food store. The choices just aren’t the same.”

The number of immigrant entrepreneurs in the city has been growing steadily, said Jonathan Bowles, the report’s co-author.

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