Laloush International market offers groceries, produce and meat from many different cultures, including Middle Eastern, Persian, Greek, Indian, Russian, and Latin American countries.

Owned and operated by the Khoury family, the store carries brands familiar with local immigrants of those cultures, who comprise most of the store’s customers.

That means that transplants from other countries can get a distinct brand they enjoyed back in their hometowns, said David Khoury, who helps run the store with his father, Sam and family. Some of the store’s popular brands include: Sadaf, MTR, MidEast, Goya, and La Morena, and others can be special-ordered and arrive within a few days, he added.

“We get it for them,” David Khoury said. “We usually find it, and we get it.”

Arabic, Spanish, and English are spoken at the market, which opened Oct. 15. The 4,500-square-foot store also features an in-house deli offering homemade hummus (a Middle Eastern chickpea dip), Tzatziki (a Greek sauce), Tabbouleh (a Middle Eastern salad), and Baba ghanoush (an Arab eggplant dish). Halal meats, suitable for most Muslim diets, are available.

Shelves of groceries include foreign olive and corn oils, tea, coffee, rice, canned goods, and more. Bags of Indian rice include Masoori and Basmati varieties. Some popular items include Mexican sodas, cans of MidEast chick peas, and Turkish tomato paste.

The produce section features specialty items not often found in supermarkets, like Persian cucumbers and Iranian greens such as tarey, marze, and shambalileh. Opo squash and bittermelon are available and popular with Indian and Asian cooking.

There are several bins of chiles and peppers, such as guajillo, arbol, and pasilla, popular with Hispanic cultures.

At the front of the store, hookah tobacco and supplies are for sale, as are shelves of nuts and Armenian and Persian pastries.

While supermarkets carry international items, selections are often limited and priced high because they are imported. Many of the items at Laloush, however, are offered at wholesale prices, David Khoury said, as the store’s philosophy is to sell high quantities at low costs and provide a service for customers.

“We aim to be the cheapest in town,” said David Khoury. “We have our own twist and style to operating a market. We believe in low prices and mass quantity sales with high turnover.”

The Poway store is not the Khourys’ first market. The family owned and operated a Hispanic grocery store in Imperial Beach from 1987 to 2007. After moving from the South Bay to North County, the family opened Laloush International in Poway to have their business close to home.

Though open just a few months, the store has already become a hub for people of shared culture and ethnicities to connect.

“A lot of people run into each other and become friends,” David Khoury said about the store’s customers.

Surprise reunions have also happened, where immigrants run into friends or family they knew in their home countries but haven’t seen in years. It actually happened to David’s father, Sam. One of Sam’s cousins moved to San Diego and started shopping at Laloush International.

It was a “total shock,” recalled David Khoury, as 30 years had passed since his father had last seen his cousin.

Laloush International market is located at 12845 Poway Road in the Carriage Center. The phone number is 858-486-1792. The Web site is www.laloushinternational.com.