While there are a few Indian grocery markets that have popped up in the city now, five years ago, Ankit Patel was a lone soldier.
Patel opened Bombay Spices in New Sudbury in 2020 with partners.
In 2022, he became the sole proprietor serving a booming Indian community.
“Before I opened, someone would tell friends they were going to Toronto for groceries, and everyone would share their lists,” Patel said. “Now that doesn’t happen anymore because we are bringing the spices, meals, snacks and produce directly to the customer.”
Patel said the most sought-after items include flour, fresh snacks like Ratlami Sev, a spicy garlic flavoured chickpea flour snack, produce, spices, condiments and frozen prepared meals.
Breakfast items like “dhokla”, a pastry made with steamed chickpea flour batter or the vada pav, a deep-fried potato dumpling in a bread bun, are among Patel’s favourites.
Patel said he brings in hundreds of items from hundreds of vendors located back home in India or in Toronto.
Originally from Gujarat, a northwestern state in India, his birthplace was made famous by Hindu freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhi.
In just a few weeks, his hometown will celebrate Lohri, celebrated by Sikhs and Hindus like Patel to mark the end of winter’s coldest days and the harvest season.
Gachak is often served on Jan. 13 and for the Festival of Lights in November, and resembles a brittle but with sesame seeds. It’s often served with “rewari”, another crunchy sesame seed treat, along with sugar and clarified butter, or ghee.
“Our holidays are often food based so I carry these items in the store,” Patel said.
Patel is also cognizant that many customers from south India celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Eve with cakes.
He’s brought in a variety of them baked with plums, dates, cashews, carrots or jackfruit.
He said the No. 1 reason people of any cultural background come to Bombay Spices are for the imported spices.
“The wall of spices is in the hundreds. Many people here like the heat in their food even if they are not Indian. We have 10 varieties of chili powder alone.”
With that comes a huge array of beans, curry powders, cumin seeds, black seeds and sesame seeds totalling around 5,000 products, and that doesn’t include the produce.
Patel said the produce is also imported, mainly Mexico and India, and the deliveries here are saving mileage on his car and the cars of many who have settled here in Sudbury like his parents.
The hours of operation for Bombay Spices is 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Sunday.
Fresh produce like mangoes, arvi, which are root vegetables, six eggplant varieties, cucumbers and potatoes arrive on Fridays.
Bombay Spices is located at 428 Westmount Avenue in Units 6 and 7, behind the Rexall Pharmacy.
Anastasia Rioux is a writer in Greater Sudbury. Let’s Eat! is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.