Albanian businesses of “receive” New York: What was known as the “Little Italy” is now called “Small Albania”

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On this road, in New York's Bronx district, there are many businesses owned by Albanian-Americans, and their clients are mostly Albanian-Americans.

Enlarging Albanian businesses has led to this area, once known as the “Small Albania”.

Fellow Burim Gojuli was on the “Arthur” street and talked to several business owners.

Founded in 2017 near the “Arthur” in New York's Bronx, “What's on top of” is one of the most successful Albanian-American restaurants.

Today, the business owner, who serves traditional Albanian foods, Ramiz Kukaj, has expanded his activity to two other points -- Manhattan and Connecticut.

The success of “What has shot” depends not only on the variety of foods, but also the large number of Albanian artifacts, says Mr. Kukaj in an interview for the Voice of America.

There's too much of a stranger's curiosity about the unseen. There's the biggest success of what he shot. When a stranger comes in, it's like entering a museum restaurant. I've never met anything like it. Even if you look for a French restaurant, which has a history of thousands of years, or if you enter an Italian restaurant, which is the peak of world culture, you don't find one in New York”, says Mr. Kukaj, who came to the United States in 1999, during the war in Kosovo.

In 2019, “What shot” was among the top 10 restaurants in New York City, according to a list of the prestigious American newspaper New York Times.

The story of this and some other similar businesses was inspired by Albanian-American entrepreneurs to invest in the “Arthur” street in the Bronx, says Mr. Kukaj.

“has given a positive energy -- a different mentality -- to all who have thought of opening an Albanian business. I think there's been a revolution in recent years on the route of Arthur, where the entire business structure has changed. That passage for many years was known as Little Italy, but now it listens to Italians themselves, who say it is no longer little Italy, but small Albania”, says Mr. Kukaj.

The Voice of America spoke with leaders of several Albanian-American businesses on the “Arthur” street in the Bronx.

At the start of this road is the post-Prince House <x0...

When they're here, they feel like they're in Kosovo, they don't miss family or friends. That means a lot to us. It is a great incentive for us to go on, bringing new things and trying to make them, at least, easier to cure these new generations, or people who come from”, says Ilir Pishani, coffee manager.

According to Mr. Pishtan, expanding Albanian businesses is an indication of the Albanian-American commitment to success.

“We are not satisfied with just a regular job, but we have always been aiming to reach higher points. This has affected us, Albanians, to have so many new businesses. To get here, it has also affected the help we give to each other”, he says.

About 400m from this café lies the pieteau “Tony and Tina”.

PhilipKatazi and his family serve Albanian-Americans with traditional dishes for over three decades.

We have tradition, we're from the Hasi region. We deal in ovens everywhere, in Croatia, in all parts of Europe. When Father came here, he worked in a furnace and then 30 years ago, we opened the Tony & Tinaés Byrek and Kos” store, says Mr. Cateazi.

Mr.Katazi was born in the United States, but he continues to preserve his family tradition. Investment in such a business requires courage, he says.

Dad had a heart. We've said we're going to do this with persistence, we're going to succeed, and we're going to tell the whole American what pie is”, says Mr. Cateazi.

According to Ismer Medic, author of “Albian Yellow Pages”, an annual edition of Albanian-American businesses, the history of Albanians on the “Arthur” street in the Bronx begins in the '60s.

By then most businesses on this road were Italian.

“Arsie why Albanians found work easier in the Bronx is because the way to come to America was through Italy. There they waited for the documents to be arranged and there they learned Italian. Without a word in English, they came here and this was a perfect place because they spoke Italian and they seemed Italian. Then, over time, Italian workers have opened their own businesses”, says Mr. Doctor.

According to God, the first Albanian-American business doctor on the “Arthur”, a store of Albanian goods, has opened in the late 1960s.

Decades later, the number of Albanian-American businesses on this road has multiplied.

Currently, says the doctor's event, near the “Arthur” road, there are about 56 Albanian businesses of different industries.

Albania's “client is here. The idea is that that client, instead of going to other more remote neighborhoods, is also offering him a business that doesn't need to go any further. Businesses, however, are not just for Albanians. These businesses are also for foreigners. But the large influx or concentration of Albanians coming here makes this neighborhood” special, he adds.

Albanian-American entrepreneur Vaso Nikprelaj owns seven locals on “Arthur”, four of which were rented for the Albanian-American business.

Mr. Nikprelaj says investment in the Bronx aimed at developing Albanian-American businesses and creating a space where community members feel like home.

Whatever you do for yourself, you die with you, and what you do for others lives forever. I can't literally explain my emotion, every time I come here, I feel very proud, very good, because I see that this concept is being used. It's wonderful and beautiful. If you come here on weekends, you listen to Albanian music, you feel like you're in Skenderbej Square in Tirana or somewhere in Pristina, that's the beauty of this idea”, says Mr. Nikprelaj.

On the path “V Alb, which offers television channels from Albania, Kosovo, Northern Macedonia and Montenegro.

Entrepreneur Nusha Dresaj, says her company provides information to Albanian-Americans, but also to preserve culture and language.

“Even the motto itself makes it clear that the Albanian community in America and Canada are informed and feel like they were in their homeland. So they're directly informed. As for interest, they are very interested because TV Alb is a large window of information about culture, and each family wants to have it at home so that children can preserve Albanian culture”, says Mrs. Dresj.

On the path “Arthur”, folk musical instruments can also be bought, says Milot Berisha, owner of the “Euro-credits

“All instruments are imported from Kosovo. People are very interested in Albanian instruments and preservation of traditives. We've imported the brier, we've got the charm. And we have national clothing here. It makes me feel really good because there are a lot of people who look at the store from outside and walk in because they find it interesting”, he says.

A year ago, a road near the intersection leading to the “Arthur” was added to the name of “Genoti-Skenderbeu”, while each year, with the birthday of the national hero, the Albanian business and culture fair is organised. / VOA