BY MIKAELA WEGNER
A longstanding Brighton
Beach business that
once bore the name Taste of
Russia is undergoing a rebranding,
owners said, in
solidarity with the people of
Ukraine.
Shop owner Bobby Rakhman
has operated the
Brighton Beach Avenue
storefront formerly known as
Taste of Russia for just three
years, but the business’ roots
run deep in the largely Ukranian
neighborhood: the local
grocery and bakery has
called the southern Brooklyn
neighborhood home for
closer to three decades.
Last week, Rakhman and
his business partner had a
large sign bearing the business’
former name taken
down in support of the local
community, dubbed “Little
Odessa,” as Russian President
Prime
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Vladimir Putin’s troops
continue to decimate major
cities and occupy Ukrainian
sovereign territory.
“I have a lot of people that
are from Ukraine, and have
family there, parents, and
brothers and sisters and kids,”
Rakhman said, “so I’m in solitude
with all these people.”
Rakhman said the removal
of their sign and the
store’s new naming is not so
much a business decision as it
is a symbolic statement.
“Myself and my partner
feel very uncomfortable with
that name as well,” he said
of Taste of Russia. “We just
feel that it’s the right thing
to do.”
Although Google now
lists the business as “Taste
of Ukraine,” Rakhman said
that will not be the new moniker
(though a large Ukrainian
fl ag now hangs in the
shop’s wind0w). The new
name will instead focus on
neither country, and will be
announced via social media
as early as this week, when
the new sign is mounted.
While he already had a
name in mind Friday, Rakhman
told Brooklyn Paper
he wants the community to
be the fi rst to see it — the
same people that have known
and loved Taste of Russia for
generations.
“I hope the rest of the community
will understand my
decision on the name change,
and I just hope the rest of the
community is going to support
me and my partner,” he
said. “And I’m sure it’s going
to mean a lot to the community
once the name is revealed.”
A Ukrainian fl ag now hangs in the window of a Brighton Beach storefront
once called “Taste of Russia,” as the business undergoes a rebranding in
solidarity with the country under seige. Photo by Mikaela Wegner
SOLIDARITY!
Owner of Brighton Beach storefront looks to
name change in solidarity with Ukraine
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