“Arthur Avenue” is a name known to Albanian-Americans.

On this avenue, in the Bronx neighborhood of New York, there are many businesses owned by Albanian-Americans, while their customers are mostly Albanian-Americans.

The expansion of Albanian businesses has made this area, which was once known as “Little Italy”, now called “Little Albania”.

Founded in 2017 near Arthur Avenue in the Bronx of New York, “Çka ka tëllu” is one of the most successful Albanian-American restaurants.

Today, the owner of the business, which serves traditional Albanian food, Ramiz Kukaj, has expanded his activity to two more locations, in Manhattan and Connecticut.

The success of “What happened” does not depend only on the variety of food, but also on the large number of Albanian artifacts, says Mr. Kukaj in an interview for the Voice of America.

“The curiosity of foreigners for the unseen, the unknown, is very, very great. There is the greatest success of ‘Çka ka tllu’. When a stranger walks in, it’s like walking into a museum restaurant. I have never come across 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 pinnacle of world culture, you will not find one in New York”, says Mr. Kukaj, who came to the United States United in 1999, during the war in Kosovo.

In 2019 “Çka ka qëllu” was among the 10 best restaurants in New York, according to a list of the prestigious American newspaper New York Times.

The history of this and several other similar businesses was an inspiration for Albanian-American entrepreneurs to invest in “Arthur” Avenue in the Bronx, says Mr. Kukaj.

“They have given a positive energy, a different mentality, to all those who have thought of opening an Albanian business. I think that during the last few years, a revolution has taken place inside ‘Arthur’ Avenue, where the whole structure of businesses has changed. For many years, that part was known as ‘Little Italy’, but now you can hear the Italians themselves, who say that it is no longer little Italy, but little Albania”, says Mr. Kukaj.

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

At the beginning of this avenue is “Prince Coffee House”, a cafe that opened 6 years ago and has now become a meeting place for Albanian-Americans.

“When they are here, they feel as if they were in Kosovo, they don’t feel the absence of family members or friends. This means a lot to us. It is a great impetus for us to continue further, bringing new things and try to make it easier for these new generations, or the people who are coming,” says Ilir Pishtani, manager of the cafe.

According to Mr. Pishtani, the expansion of Albanian businesses is an indicator of the determination of Albanian-Americans for success.

“We are not satisfied with just an ordinary job, but we have always aimed to reach higher points. This has influenced us, the Albanians, to have so many new businesses. In order to get here, the help we give to each other has had an impact,” he says.

About 400 meters away from this cafe is the bakery “Tony and Tina”.

Filip Kajtazi and his family have been serving Albanian-Americans with traditional dishes for over three decades.

“We have it by tradition, we are from the region of Has. We deal with bakeries everywhere, in Croatia, in all parts of Europe. When my father came here, he worked in a bakery and then 30 years ago, we opened the shop ‘Tony & Tina’s Byrek dhe Kos’, says Mr. Kajtazi.

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

“Father had a heart. We said that we will do it with persistence, we will succeed and we will show all of America what the pie is”, says Mr. Kajtazi.

According to Ismer Mjek, author of the “Albanian Yellow Pages”, an annual publication with Albanian-American businesses, the history of Albanians on “Arthur” Avenue  in the Bronx begins in the 60s.

At that time most of the businesses on this avenue were Italian.

“The reason why Albanians found work more easily in the Bronx is because the way to come to America was through Italy. There they waited for their documents to be arranged and there they learned the Italian language. Without a word of English, they came here and this was a perfect place because they spoke Italian and looked Italian. Then over time, those who worked for Italians opened their own businesses”, says Mr. Mjeku.

According to Mr. Mjeku, the first Albanian-American business on “Arthur” avenue, a store with Albanian goods, was opened at the end of the 60s.

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

Now, says Mjeku, there are about 56 Albanian businesses of various industries near “Arthur” avenue.

“The Albanian client is here. The idea is that that customer, instead of going to other more distant districts, he should also be offered a business so that he does not need to go further. But businesses are not only for Albanians. These businesses are also for foreigners. But the influx or the large concentration of Albanians who come here makes this neighborhood special”, he adds.

The Albanian-American entrepreneur Vaso Nikprelaj is the owner of seven premises on “Arthur” avenue, four of which are leased to Albanian-American businesses.

Mr. Nikprelaj says that the investment in the Bronx was aimed at the development of Albanian-American businesses and the creation of a space where members of the community feel at home.

“Whatever you do for yourself dies with you, but what you do for others lives forever. I don’t know how to explain my emotion in words, every time I come here, I feel very proud, very good, because I see that this concept is being used. It is something wonderful and beautiful. If you come here on the weekend, you listen to Albanian music, you feel like you are in Skenderbej Square in Tirana or somewhere in Pristina, this is the beauty of this idea”, says Mr. Nikprelaj.

The TV Alb platform, which offers television channels from Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Montenegro, has its headquarters on “Arthur” avenue.

The entrepreneur Nusha Dreshaj says that her company enables the information of Albanian-Americans, but also the preservation of culture and language.

“TV Alb’s motto is ‘closer to the birthplace’. Even the motto itself makes it clear that the Albanian community in America and Canada are informed and feel as if they were in their homeland. So they are directly informed. As for the interest, they are very interested because TV Alb is a big window of information on culture and every family wants to have it at home, so that the children preserve the Albanian culture”, says Mrs. Dreshaj.

Folk musical instruments can also be bought on “Arthur” avenue, says Milot Berisha, owner of the “Euroalb” store.

“All the instruments are imported from Kosovo. People are very interested in instruments and preserving Albanian traditions. We imported the couplet, the lute, we have sharkija. We also have national clothes here. It makes me feel very good because there are many people who see the store from the outside and go inside because they find it interesting,” he says.

A year ago, the name of “Gjergj Kastrioti-Skenderbeu” was added to a avenue near the intersection that leads to “Arthur” avenue, while every year, on the occasion of the national hero’s birthday, a fair of Albanian businesses and culture is organized./VOA