The Oktay family, which owns Istanbul Kebab House on Burlington’s Church Street, will launch a second business nearby in May. The Oktays plan to open a shop selling Turkish spices, wines and specialty foods, along with carpets and handcrafted gifts, at 99 Church Street, former home of the Sox Market.
The shop will be called Little Istanbul, like a similar store the family opened in 2018 in White River Junction, where they also own Tuckerbox. Seven Days recently reported that the Oktays are working to open a second White River Junction restaurant called Cappadocia Café this spring.
The three restaurants are owned by brothers and Turkish natives Vural and Hasan Oktay and Vural’s wife, Jackie. Vural and Jackie own the original Little Istanbul in White River Junction and will co-own the Burlington shop with Hasan’s wife, Nihal Oktay, who plans to immigrate to Vermont from Turkey this spring with their son and daughter.
Jackie called the decision to open a second Little Istanbul “an immigration story and a business story.”
Nihal studied the import-export business in college in Turkey, she continued, and worked in the field before taking time off to raise her kids. “She has the expertise,” Jackie said. “We can’t do it without her.”
From a business perspective, Jackie said, the family’s store and restaurant in White River Junction complement each other. Customers who enjoy Turkish dishes at Tuckerbox can go to the shop and buy spices and other ingredients, such as pomegranate molasses, Lebanese tahini and Turkish olive oil, to re-create those recipes at home.
In Burlington, the family expects a similar relationship to develop between Istanbul Kebab House (see “Mediterranean Magic“) and Little Istanbul. An anchor of the new store will be “a beautiful spice counter, bigger than in White River Junction,” Jackie said. Customers will be able to buy freshly imported spices, such as Turkish-grown Aleppo pepper, sumac, Marash and Urfa biber peppers, plus traditional blends, such as baharat and köfte seasoning, in any quantity.
Correction, March 20, 2024: An earlier version of this story misstated the gender of one of Nihal and Hasan Oktay’s children. They have one son and one daughter.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Istanbul Kebab House Family to Open Store on Burlington’s Church Street”
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This article appears in Mar 20-26, 2024.
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