Once a month, Izzatullah Alizai drives from Savannah to Decatur just to shop at Kabul Market.
Alizai grabs a few loaves of freshly made Afghan flatbread (naan-e Afghani) before working his way through the aisles. Alizai carefully fills up his cart with spices, meat, sweets and other goods that trigger memories of Afghanistan.
Kabul Market is the only Afghan grocery store in the state, and he wants to make the trip count.
“We buy a lot of groceries from here,” said Izzatullah Alizai, 28, while picking out a pack of jumbo golden raisins, which are typically sweeter than regular raisins. “You can go to Publix or Walmart and buy raisins for $2, but the taste will be different.”
The Kabul Market, located at 2129 Lawrenceville Highway, Decatur, could provide a taste of home to the hundreds of Afghan refugees who’ve recently settled in Georgia. As of Dec. 21, the International Rescue Committee in Atlanta has welcomed more than 500 Afghan evacuees to metro Atlanta, and roughly 300 more people are expected to arrive by the end of February.
When families and individuals arrive from overseas, resettlement organizations, including the rescue committee, make sure there is a homecooked meal and culturally familiar foods waiting for them, and will purchase food, including Afghan bread, from Kabul Market
“I need to help my community and make the new families feel welcomed,” Baseer Basil, the shop’s owner said. “My community likes my store because it’s not expensive, and everything for an Afghani family is available right here.
Credit: Miguel Martinez for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Miguel Martinez for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Basil opened Kabul Market as a clothing and accessory business in 2019. The International Rescue Committee’s Microenterprise Development program provided Basil services such as financial coaching and small business loans to entrepreneurs, as it does for other immigrant-owned businesses it assists.
“I think a lot of (refugees) come with experience from abroad and it’s just figuring how to how to translate that to the U.S. environment and how to navigate it here to start something that they see as a need,” said Jennifer Potts, coordinator for the microenterprise development program. “So to be able to watch them grow to this level, I think can be attributed to wanting to achieve the American dream.”
By 2020, Basil expanded Kabul Market to offer groceries alongside other Afghan goods and household staples, such as straw brooms and a clay-based shampoo. He also began working closely with the IRC in Atlanta to offer discounts to refugee families, and will regularly deliver food to newly arrived Afghans.
“Some of them don’t have a car right now, so I will drive two or three hours a day to deliver food,” Basil said.
Before opening his store, Basil lived in Kabul where he worked as an artist, businessman and journalist. He also served a stint as the chairman of the country’s national theatre. In 2014 Basil came to the Atlanta with his wife and children through the refugee resettlement program.
He started off working at a chicken farm in the metro area and eventually decided to open up a small shop. As Basil’s store grows in size and popularity, so do his dreams and ambitions for the future.
“My dream is to open my own restaurant,” he said. “I will serve real Afghani food, because Afghani people like it.”
Kabul Market
Kabul Market is open daily 10 a.m. – 8:30 p.m. at 2129 Lawrenceville Highway, Unit M, Decatur.
Paradise Afshar is a Report for America corps member covering metro Atlanta’s immigrant communities. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Report for America are partnering to raise funds to place multilingual journalists on the staff in The AJC newsroom to improve our coverage of these communities. We hope you’ll help us by donating to this initiative.
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