NYC Businesses Stay Alive By Finding Niche Markets

Indeed, uraniumfish! I find that niche stores - whether mystery bookshops or East Asian groceries - have selections that are much more carefully thought out than your average Chain Mart. Sometimes, it's true, they can get away with being more expensive, but I think in the end it's often worth the price to support local businesses, and you get something for that quality!

I know one such tiny store in Queens. Its called Tawa Deli and l it sells is a wide range of chappatis and parathas. For all of you who are familiar with Indian food, these are Indian breads which require some skill to make at home. Tawa Deli is manned by an all woman staff who make mounds of fresh Indian breads every day to serve all those hungry NYkers like me who dont know how to make them and buy them in huge batches so that they can freeze them and then use them at will. Ingenuity at its best ..these women know these breads are vital to South Asian cuisine and as long as New York has an South Asian population their products will continue to find a ready market.

@uptowngirl Which is essentially how the 'typical' NYC eateries started out--surely the pastrami sandwich at Katz's deli started out as a niche market catering to the jewish immigrants, and now everybody who ever visits NY has to go thee to try those sandwiches. It's become so famous, it's now a cliche.