By TARA E. McLAUGHLIN, naplesnews.com
NAPLES — The towering shop owner, with his shaved head and broad smile, walked the two aisles of his new market, translating food labels for the English-speaking women.
Aziz Obidov will, one day, get around to making English labels for the shelves that hold his selection of Eastern European goods.
But he’s in no rush.
He and his wife, Madina Khilalova, like the customer interaction.
The Uzbek couple wants Americans to be as comfortable in Camilla Eastern European Foods Market as they would be in a Starbucks, Obidov said.
He and Khilalova opened the store named for their 6-year-old daughter on Christmas day. It caters to the tastes of Russia and what they call fake Russia — the nations south and west of Russia that once made up the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
In the modest, 1,200-square-foot market, at 4947 U.S. 41 south of Pine Ridge Road in the Liberty Bank Plaza in Naples, Obidov and Khilalova, if you let them, will paint a picture of each food, its origins and what food or drink may best accompany them.
Tulskiy Pryanik, a popular sugar-glazed gingerbread cake, goes nicely with tea, Obidov explained. A spicy carrot salad often accompanies vodka. Kvas, a fermented barley soft drink, is “the Russian Coke,” he said.
Customers can sip tea or lunch on shish kebab at one of two folding tables set with white cloth and small flower vases.
Next to the tables, children can occupy their time with the Sesame Street play toy.
Southwest Florida may not be a bastion of Russian immigration.
The Census Bureau’s 2005 to 2007 American Communities Survey three-year estimates showed just 1 percent of both Lee and Collier counties’ residents claim Russian heritage.
But for small business owners who understand the importance of food in cultural identity, that 1 percent, or nearly 9,000 people, represents a significant customer base.
“The food is very important (to our culture),” Khilalova said of community events with other Eastern Europeans. “In those gatherings we do make our cultural foods. That’s how we are. All those gatherings it cannot go without.”
Obidov and Khilalova used to buy their groceries in Miami and Fort Myers. They hope their store will fill a void for others who drive long distances to find a taste of their home country.
Along with fresh jams, meats and vegetables, Camilla is stocked with 95 varieties of candy and sweets, including batonchiki, a smooth, peanut butter chew, and 15 types of Russian bread.
A fifth of the store’s goods are Turkish, which caters to Armenians, Azerbaijanis and other former Soviet republics.
“This is primarily Soviet-era food items,” Obidov said. “It’s very sentimental for all 15 nationalities.”
For good measure, they keep a small supply of Doritos and Cokes in stock for workers in the area.
In just one week, the store has attracted customers from Marco Island to Fort Myers. They sold all 20 pounds of loose Halvah, a sweet sesame seed product.
Khilalova, during an interview Friday, took a call from an Estero woman ready to drive to Camilla for a loaf of bread.
A wish list of items customers have asked for is growing daily.
“That’s the heart of our business,” Obidov said of those special requests. He promises to get almost anything for his customers in 24 hours, even if it means a drive across Alligator Alley to collect an item from a distributor.
Camilla also offers kosher foods, which are allowed under Jewish law, and halal foods, allowed under Islamic law.
Rabbi Fishel Zaklos, director of the Chabad Jewish Center of Naples, while not endorsing this market because he was not familiar with it, said kosher foods are hard to come by.
His personal groceries and those for the center are trucked in twice a month from Daytona Beach.
Having had grandparents from Eastern Europe, food from the region evokes memories of community and tradition, he said.
“The fact that there is this type of store … is actually a representation of our community and the uniqueness to it,” Zaklos said. “We all stem from different corners of the world and we’re coming here to acknowledge and unite the people coming from different places.”
The store piqued curiosity for those whose heritage lay elsewhere.
Mary Nieporte visited the store “because it’s an ethic food store, because it’s different,” she said.
She is now papering her friends with Camilla business cards. Nieporte left the store with Turkish coffee and the pressed Halvah snack.
Two of her friends, Bill and Carolyn McMahon, also ventured out to Camilla.
“We’re on a field trip,” Bill McMahon said. “I’ve seen more than what I’ve expected. But I have no idea whether I’d like it or not because I can’t read the labels.”
Obidov and Khilalova are in their late 20s, yet they call Camilla their retirement. Obidov arrived in the United States in 1999 followed in 2001 by his wife. They are raising two girls, Camilla and 2-year-old Amira Obidova — following tradition for girls, an “A” is added to the end of their father’s name.
Since their arrival, Obidov and Khilalova worked for and then owned a human resources consulting business that managed about 200 foreign hospitality workers in nine states covering 40 hotels.
“It was hectic and nerve-racking,” Khilalova said. “This is peaceful, calm.”
A second location is in the works, the location of which they are keeping secret for now.
Obidov isn’t worried about starting and expanding a business in a recession.
“Will people stop eating?” he asked. “I don’t think so.”
