Charlie and Audrey Sahadi
(family photo)
Charlie and Audrey with their six grandchildren (family photo)
Charlie Sahadi in his Atlantic Avenue store
If you have ever shopped at Sahadi Importing Company at 187-191 Atlantic Avenue, you have surely met its owner, Charlie Sahadi. Surely one of the friendliest business owners in all of Brooklyn, Charlie greets everyone with a big hello and his smile is simply infectious.
Well, today is a very special day for Charlie and his wife Audrey. They got married on November 8, 1964, and they are celebrating their 49th wedding anniversary.
Not only are they both still very much involved in the family business, they still walk to the store hand in hand every morning. How wonderful is that?
Sahadi's has been a fixture on Atlantic Avenue since 1948, when Charlie's father, Wade, a Lebanese immigrant, moved his Middle Eastern specialty foods store from Manhattan to Brooklyn. Charlie joined his father's business in 1964, the same year he got married. When Wade passed away just three years later, Charlie continued running the store.
In the past few years, Charlie's daughter has joined the family business and the store was just expanded and renovated. Besides offering a larger selection of fresh spices, nuts, olives, and dried fruit, Sahadi's now offers an even wider selection of specialty foods from around the world.
Though the third generation is helping run the store, Charlie would never dream of retiring. "What would I do with myself?" he told me when I stopped by. "I like working too much." And we would miss him too much.
So, Charlie and Audrey, "Happy Anniversary" and may you and your family be part of Brooklyn for many more generations.
