São Paulo – One man from the state of Paraná and another from São Paulo are responsible for supplying the shelves of the only emporium specializing in Arab products at the Municipal Market of São Paulo. And even though they are not part of the community, they bring joy to Arabs who go to their store seeking spices, seasonings, sweets, and beverages from the Middle East. It is all there, at Tio Ali (Uncle Ali), as the shop, which opened in 2005, was baptized. The enterprise’s success was such that five months ago, its owners opened a second unit, geared towards the wholesale market (especially restaurants and hotels), on Santa Rosa Street, near the Market.
“We are not of Arab descent, but we realized that a store was lacking that would offer products from those countries at the Market, and it dawned on us that we had a business opportunity,” explains João Baptista Ramos Júnior, partner of the store alongside Júlio Coelho, the other man in charge of Tio Ali.
According to Ramos, the sweets are the best selling items, especially the nuts burma, the halawi and the ataif. Seeking some raha? Don’t worry: the Arabic gum candy is never lacking in the inventory. Not to mention the traditional rose and orange waters, used, among other ends, for preparing the sweets. Other items with a good turnover are bottles of arak of several origins, shanklish cheese, and imported canned dips and spices, especially from Lebanon, such as hummus, tahini and zaatar.
The clientele at the store is divided among tourists and foreigners. In order to better welcome the latter, a welcome sign in Arabic was placed at the façade. “We have noticed that the people who seek us are increasingly well informed about the products, they no longer have that many doubts,” says João. “Which is a sign that the Middle Eastern cuisine is growing in Brazil.”
The businessman himself is proof of that trend. “I love Arabic food. I eat at least once a week at a restaurant of the type,” says Ramos, who intends to stamp his passport with visas to Syria and Lebanon next year. He will do tourism and, of course, fill up his luggage with new items for Tio Ali.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
