Bangla Bazaar

I cook Indian food at least once a week. Bangla Bazaar is where I shop for Indian staples like lentils, chickpea flour, paneer, spices (everything from Iranian saffron, asafoetida, and pomegranate seeds to giant bags of coriander and cumin at very low prices), frozen naan, and at my last visit I bought 8 lbs of fresh goat, butchered by the owner himself.
This store has no produce, and for good reason: It’s across the parking lot from H-​Mart which has that more than covered. It wouldn’t make sense to duplicate their produce section.
What makes this store special to me is that the owners are so friendly and helpful. The kind of customer service they offer is something that went out of fashion here long ago. They greet us at the door, offer my son candy at each visit, ask us if we need help finding things, recommend the best brands, offer to open up packages to let us try new things, offer to give us a discount on high-​priced items (the big box of saffron goes for somewhere around $ 100), carry groceries to our car, and they remember us. They even gave my son a birthday gift. This is small-​town customer service from the 1950’s, or maybe it’s normal Bengali customer service, but either way, I love it!

Small south asian food store across the shopping center parking lot from H-​Mart. Decent selection of pickles, spices and dried lentils… not much else. No fresh food section and a couple of freezers full of ready to eat meals. Not worth a trip in itself but good combined with H-​Mart.