Fresno Bee (California)
January 20, 2005, Thursday FINAL EDITION
Ohanyan’s Corner Family-run deli has offered Armenian foods for 25
years.
Paula Lloyd THE FRESNO BEE
The pungent smell of spices and the rhythmic thump of a
sausage-making machine fill Ohanyan’s Deli on a recent chilly
morning. The small family-run delicatessen, market and manufacturing
plant has been a fixture at Shields and West avenues for 25 years.
Markos Garabetyan kept the name of the previous owner when he bought
the shop. A deli case is stocked with Armenian sausages made in the
small manufacturing plant in the back of the building.
Garabetyan came to America from his native Turkey in 1976.
His son, Hayik Garabetyan, 32, has worked in the family business
since he was 8. He left college to join the family business. The best
education, he says, “is hands-on experience.”
Hayik Garabetyan’s uncle, Jerry Hancer, and cousin, Robert Hancer,
also run the family business, which includes a plant at Ashlan and
Valentine avenues where pasta and dried meat are made.
“We sell to all the other Armenian delis in town,” Hayik Garabetyan
says, and in turn Ohanyan’s Deli carries pastries and breads from
local Armenian bakeries.
The shelves at Ohanyan’s are stocked with Armenian and Middle Eastern
foods, including dry bulk lentils, rice, bulgur and garbanzo beans,
cans of grape leaves, jars of Armenian cucumber pickles and preserves
made from eggplant, pumpkin or rose petals.
The neighborhood has changed around the small shop.
“I’ve seen kids grow up here who come in,” Hayik Garabetyan says, but
his father expresses frustration at the way he says the neighborhood
has shifted.
Walking out to the alley behind the store, Markos Garabetyan points
to trash against his building and graffiti on a nearby fence.
“The rent is cheaper than up north, but my customers complain,” he
says about trash and panhandlers. “When I started, there was a lot of
call for retail.”
“Every day varies,” Hayik Garabetyan says. “Sometimes it’s busy. For
the holidays, it’s mainly for the products we sell.”
But customers still come in for sandwiches. Above the counter is a
sign advertising a lunch special: a turkey sandwich, soda and baklava
for $4.
“You cannot buy that in town anywhere,” says Markos Garabetyan with a
grin. “We try to bring the customers. Is business trick.”
The reporter can be reached at [email protected] or or at (559)
441-6756.
GRAPHIC: PHOTOS BY TOMAS OVALLE — THE FRESNO BEE Hayik Garabetyan
makes a sandwich at Ohanyan’s. Garabetyan has been in the family
business since age 8.
Shields and West avenues in Fresno is the site of Ohanyan’s, which
includes a deli, market and manufacturing plant.