Sudbury·Northern Nosh

Peek inside Sudbury's first Indian grocery store

Tired of driving four hours to Toronto to buy groceries, Jimmy and Leena Rathod decided to take matters into their own hands and open Sudbury's first Indian grocery store.

Bombay Spices is located on Westmount Avenue in New Sudbury

My parents are immigrants from India, and as I get older, I find myself trying to cook the food I grew up with in my own kitchen.

While the big grocery store chains are doing a better job at carrying a diverse selection, there's still a lot of things missing. That's why I was really excited to learn of a new business that opened in Greater Sudbury just last month.

Bombay Spices is city's first dedicated Indian grocery store. In addition to spices and fresh vegetables, they also carry hot snacks, frozen foods, cosmetics — and even small appliances.

The store is owned by four families, including Leena and Jimmy Rathod. When they moved to Sudbury from Saskatchewan in 2018, they quickly ran into a problem when it came to buying groceries.

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Tired of driving four hours to Toronto to buy groceries, Jimmy and Leena Rathod decided to take matters into their own hands and open up Sudbury's first Indian grocery store.

"Northern Nosh" is a new weekly feature on Up North, CBC Radio One's regional afternoon show for northern Ontario. If you know of a restaurant, bakery or farm you think would make a great story, get in touch! 

Send an email to upnorth@cbc.ca, message us on Facebook or Twitter — or call 1-844-85NORTH.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jonathan Pinto is the host of Up North, CBC Radio One's regional afternoon show for Northern Ontario and is based in Sudbury. He was formerly a reporter/editor and an associate producer at CBC Windsor. Email jonathan.pinto@cbc.ca.