Patel Brothers, West Ridge's Iconic Indian Grocery Store, Celebrates 50 Years In Business (2024)

WEST RIDGE — Tulsi Patel pushes his utility cart stacked with bags of basmati rice across bottled chutneys on a recent work day, greeting each customer as they enter his shop like they’re old friends. They could be. He is one of the Patel brothers, co-founder and co-owner of the country’s most iconic Indian grocery store.

Mafat and Tulsi Patel opened the first Patel Brothers near Damen and Devon avenues in September 1974. Starting with an 800-square-foot shop, Patel Brothers is now the country’s largest South Asian grocery chain, worth over $200 million with 52 stores stretching from New Jersey to Texas.

The original store moved several times over the years before settling at 2610 W. Devon Ave. The company rebuilt that store in a $3.5 million revamp in 2021 as an ode to the founders and starting point of the chain.

“We’re Chicago proud,” said Swetal Patel, the son of Mafat Patel and the grocery chain’s vice president of purchasing.

“We’re just trying to make strides: constantly improving what we do, how we operate, bringing more convenience to the consumer and value for money. That’s what our motto has been since Day 1.”

Far from its current success, the massive business started as a way for the brothers and their families to bring traditional Indian food and ingredients to the burgeoning community of immigrants missing that taste of home.

“Patel Brothers is a family effort; it’s in the name itself. We would not be here without my brother, and we would not have expanded if it wasn’t for the rest of the family and our children,” Tulsi Patel said.

‘Patel Brothers Serves All People’

The idea for Patel Brothers came from Mafat Patel, who came to the United States first in 1968, according to a bio on the store’s website. Realizing he couldn’t do it alone, he persuaded younger brother Tulsi Patel and his wife, Aruna Patel, to join him in 1971. The first store opened three years later.

The store, along with Sari Palace and other Indian businesses, marked the early stages of Devon Avenue becoming Little India, bolstered by a sizable number of South Asians coming to Chicago.

“There was a growing Indian community, but nothing for us to eat,” Tulsi Patel said, his eyes glistening with tears. “There was only a sari store when I started, and it was very hard. The community that lived here before us did not want us to be here, so we had to buy our first store through a secondary person.”

Patel Brothers is now a multi-generational family business, boasting massive stores with spices, rice and dals, in-house bakeries making roti and and samosa, and more. The website also shares recipes for traditional and fusion Indian dishes.

“Each city has their own demographics that the stores cater to – you can’t just say you’re an Indian store that sells Indian products,” Swetal Patel said. “You’re also an Indian store that has a heavy Gujarati population, a heavy South Indian population and even a heavy Muslim Pakistani population. You have to cater to your market.”

Swetal Patel grew up spending weekends and summers helping out at the store, even if that’s not something he initially wanted to do with his free time as a child, he said. As time went on, the family business became a passion project.

“You go to the store and not only learn about the business, but you also learn about the customers from bagging their groceries,” Swetal Patel. “You talk to them and really see what it is they’re looking for in us and try to improve the offerings.”

A typical day at the store sees children running through the aisles, insisting their parents buy them malai kulfi, a cardamom-flavored frozen sweet treat. Aunties dressed unapologetically in their saris and sneakers wait for their fresh roti at the bakery, while uncles surround a screen playing the cricket match from the morning.

Tulsi Patel, now 77, is still actively stocking shelves, unloading products, bagging groceries and dusting the aisles in his store.

“I come to the help at the store after all these years, not because I have to but because I want to,” he said.

‘Devon Makes Us United’

More South Asian families and business owners became established in the area after Patel Brothers.

From Indian chaat cafes to Bengali fish suppliers and Pakistani barbecue shops, Devon became a magnet for those wanting to experience the vast cultures of South Asia. Smaller shops like Sundarbans Fish Bazaar, Farm Supermarket and World Fresh Market stand tall on Devon even as Patel Brothers still dominates the street.

“Our tagline is ‘celebrating our food, our culture,’ and that’s really what happens at Patel Brothers — it has become a mecca of some sort for the community to get together,” Swetal Patel said. “It becomes an experience when you’re with your countrymen.”

Omar Faruq, the owner of Sundarbans, 2200 W. Devon Ave., has run his store specializing in Bangladeshi products for 18 years. As a small business owner, Faruq finds joy in spaces like Devon, he said.

“Devon is the first place where people in my community go — you can hear your own language, see your own culture and people. I also go to the mosque here all the time, so it’s a very convenient place,” Faruq said. “It’s very important to keep in touch for future generations when you live far away from home.”

Faruq said he is grateful that pioneer shops like Patel Brothers have attracted South Asians of all nationalities to the street. That makes it all the more important to have more specialty stores like his catering to specific needs, he said.

When new Bengali immigrants go for groceries at the famed Patel Brothers, they are even more excited to see a store down the street specializing in Bangladeshi products like Ilish fish that comes from the rivers of Bangladesh and Nicobena mango achaar, a mixed pickle with salt, oil and spices, Faruq said.

“I think the most important thing is to not forget about your own culture,” Faruq said. “It can be easy to group up with dominant cultures.”

Sadruddin Noorani, who came to Chicago from Bangladesh in 1981, called Devon a “one-stop shop” where people of many backgrounds come together.

“Even when there was conflict back home between different South Asian countries, here in Devon, you can find us all living like friends despite not having the same religion or nationality,” Noorani said. “Devon makes us united.”

Mafuza Alam, a Bangladeshi immigrant, said the store is comforting and familiar.

“I’m not Indian, but seeing people who look and dress like me makes me so happy. It feels like home. Patel Brothers serves all people, and I have met my closest family friends right here in Devon,” Azam said. “It has everything I need from my hair oil, rice and most importantly — chai.”

Chloe Erps, 21, who moved to Chicago from Kansas, wandered into Patel Brothers recently while strolling Devon Avenue. Erps said she had never had an opportunity to try Indian food until she moved to Chicago.

“I would totally be unfamiliar with Indian spices and ingredients, but since Patel Brothers has made the signs and labels in English, it gives American customers a new understanding of a different culture,” Erps said, filling her basket with fresh naan, paneer and frozen kebabs.

Ten to 12 percent of Patel Brothers’ customer base are not ethnic Indians and do not have South Asian heritage, Swetal Patel said.

“Indian cuisine is so beautiful, but it’s also quite standoff-ish with the slew of ingredients needed to make a single entree,” Swetal Patel said. “When we present it well, categorize it and make it easy for the consumer, they’re going to continue coming.”

Over 5 million South Asians live in the United States now, tracing roots to India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar and more. The Chicago area is home to the second-largest Indian community, according to Pew Research Center.

Halal grocery shops line the sidewalks of West Rogers Park, with tuk-tuks decorated on the corners and temples standing tall throughout.

“Grocery is all about food for your soul, you know — you don’t want to rush it,” Swetal Patel said.

Patel Brothers has remained even as Devon Avenue has grown to represent numerous South Asian communities and more of those families move to the suburbs, creating Devon-like hubs elsewhere.

And it is still growing. As recently as last year, there are plans to open another Patel Brothers’ location in Michigan and expand its Jersey City, New Jersey, store. In recent years, the family has opened its largest stores in suburban Naperville and Niles.

Eight more stores are expected to open within the next three years.

“My community is the most important thing to me — without them, I would not have Patel Brothers or a purpose,” Tulsi Patel said, chuckling. “They have motivated me to work for nearly 50 years. I would not be here without them.”

“It’s a love affair, in all honesty — that is what this is,” Swetal Patel said.

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