As the United States naval blockade on Iran remains, Middle Eastern markets across Columbus are dealing with several financial concerns: low stock of imported products, high delivery charges and long shipment times.
Most of the products at Mediterranean Food Imports in Old North Columbus come from overseas. Tarek Kweik, the store's supervisor, said he has been witnessing prices increase in the past year, especially after tariffs were issued on the Middle East. Now, the blockades have caused shortages in cheese, olive oil, dates and, especially, Persian items.
"You cannot put up the margin you want to put because you don't want to be too high of a price," Kweik said. "We made more, better money when it was cheaper than we have now."
At Medina World Market in Hilliard, everything from flour, vegetables, frozen goods, dairy and meat has increased in cost. What customers normally paid for a cartful is what they now pay for only a couple items, said Khalid Nasasra, manager of the market.
"We see decreased shopping," Nasasra said. "Now we just sit around and look around and say, 'What's going on? Why [is it] slow today?'"
Kweik also said shoppers aren't visiting the store as often, and when they do, they are shopping for fewer items. Although customers have noticed the rise in prices, they understand it is not in the store's control, he said.
Ron Schlachet, a regular customer at Mediterranean Food Imports, said despite the rise in prices, he chooses to support small businesses.
"I'm going to give them some business because I enjoy their relationship, their friendship," Schlachet said. "People that are shopping here will keep the idea of the quality that they're after being important to them."
Nasasra said shipments coming from the Gulf region are now taking double the time to arrive, around two months, and the costs of the shipments have increased by about a third.
Kweik and Nasasra both said due to the recent increase in gas prices, they have experienced new shipping fees on deliveries to their stores. Nasasra said he has noticed a 2-3% charge on recent shipments which he has to consider when pricing items.
"If this situation stays like this, I'm afraid," Kweik said. "Gas prices affect everything."
In order to keep up with operational costs, both Nasasra and Kweik said they have had to compensate. Kweik said he has been ordering less stock and Nasara said he has had to cut employee hours.
"If the war settles, the gas will go down, things will go down," Nasasra said. "So we'll hope for that."
