ALBANY PARK — At a community meeting hosted by the Albany Park Chamber of Commerce, Hassib Blan outlined his plans for the Metro Plaza at 4632-40 N. Kedzie Ave., including the sale of Blanz Pantry to a new group of investors and the potential for a Middle Eastern market/bakery.
Blan has owned the strip mall for 20 years. The plaza houses his various enterprises — including Salam Restaurant, Metro Coin Laundry and Blanz Pantry — as well as Nazareth Sweets.
"I want to take it a little bit easier," said Blan, as he announced his intention to divest himself of the Blanz convenience store business.
Patty Wetli says that falafel lovers should not fear, Salam isn't going anywhere:
Bhagyesh and Harry Patel — nephew and uncle, respectively — were introduced as the prospective buyers.
"I want to transfer the store to these guys," Blan said.
The entrepreneurs already own a pair of Subway franchises, one at Montrose and Pulaski and the other at Belmont and Pulaski. They would buy the pantry business outright from Blan but rent the storefront from him.
"We like the area. It's a good neighborhood, it's a peaceful area," said Bhagyesh Patel, who lives in Harwood Heights. "We want to be part of the community."
Patel assured neighbors that his family would maintain the pantry — which they will continue to operate under the Blanz name — as a convenience mart, not a liquor store.
Though the Patels are applying for a liquor license in their own name, as opposed to transferring Blanz's existing license, he said they intend to keep the current merchandise balance of 70 percent to 80 percent grocery items, with alcohol making up the remainder.
"When we went to the city, they asked, 'Do you want Blanz Liquor?'" Patel said. "I don't want 'liquor' on the sign."
If anything, the Patels plan to add more grocery options, as well as undertake a few renovations.
"We plan to make the store a little more appealing," he said.
Community members were largely in favor of the Patels' ownership.
"I like his attitude of renovating, freshening, being involved in the community," said Jennifer Thornton, a member of the People of East Albany Park block club.
Thornton had quizzed Patel on the use of plastic bags, noting that teens are often seen walking out of convenience stores with nothing more than a snack pack of chips, bundled in a plastic bag that ends up as litter.
"Can they be used sparingly?" she asked.
Patel responded in the affirmative and added that his team had taken green measures at their Subway locations, including purchasing reusable baskets to serve food to dine-in patrons rather than wrapping their sandwiches in plastic.
Blan made it clear that selling the convenience store in no way signals the end of his investment in Albany Park — fear not, falafel lovers, Salam, which recently expanded to a second location in Lincoln Park, isn't going anywhere.
"I've been here 24 years. We've seen bad days ... when we first came — I swear my hair raises when I think of that time — and now beautiful days," he said. "I am going to stay with the neighborhood."
Once the Blanz Pantry transaction is complete, he can turn his attention to other improvements at the Metro Plaza, he said.
Blan's top priority is reinventing the Metro Coin space, either as a dry cleaners or a Middle Eastern market/bakery.
Though Blan is leaning toward the dry cleaners, which Thornton said is much needed in the area, the expense of buying and maintaining the required equipment has given him pause, he said.
So he's also kicking around the notion of a bakery that would specialize in breakfast pastries, like the spinach and meat pies commonly eaten at the start of the day in his native Jordan.
"This is an idea," Blan emphasized.
Carol Maher, also representing the People of East Albany Park, said the bakery sounded like it would be a positive addition to the neighborhood, particularly given the strip mall's proximity to the Kedzie Brown Line station.
"The more places people can pick up and carry to the 'L' is good," she said.
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