For decades, Jewish families have called West Hills and its environs home, flocking to its quiet West Valley neighborhoods, which feature nearby synagogues, day schools and an active Jewish Community Center (JCC). But something was missing: a kosher market.
Albert Benji, who has lived in West Hills with his wife and daughter for about 13 years, thought it was odd that a community with so many Jewish families and services was lacking something so basic. At the Jewish day school his daughter attended, Benji says students were required to either bring dairy or pareve meals or purchase kosher hot meals on campus.
“We need to practice what we preach,” he said. “After school, we would look for something to eat and there was nothing kosher nearby.”
Many area Jews who observe kashrut would shlep 15 or 20 minutes to shop at kosher markets and butcher shops in Encino,Tarzana or Agoura Hills, while some turned to Eema’s, an Israeli makolet (small grocery store) in Woodland Hills.
Benji, 45, decided he would be the one to solve the problem. He left his career in real estate to create Heavenly Fresh Kosher Market.
Four years and a major construction project later, Heavenly Fresh opened in March, a few weeks before Passover, at the corner of Vanowen Street and Platt Avenue.
During the market’s planning, Benji tore down the existing building — an auto repair shop — and built Heavenly Fresh from the ground up on 5,900 square feet of prime West Hills real estate.
“This is the center of the West Hills Jewish community,” Benji said. “It’s all about location, location, location.”
Heavenly Fresh features its own cafe, bakery, sushi chef and full-service kosher butcher. Among its other offerings are fresh fish, a produce section and imported goods from Israel as well as products for customers with special dietary needs, including many gluten-free and sugar-free items.
“We have things you can’t get at other local markets,” Benji said. “Persian rice, unique produce and special orders. I have been able to provide my customers with just about any product they have requested.”
The market is certified by the Rabbinical Council of California (RCC) and has its own full-time staff mashgiach (kosher supervisor).
West Hills residents say they are thrilled with their new neighborhood market.
“I have lived in West Hills for 14 years, and the Jewish community here has continued to grow,” said Michelle Starkman, 39. “We have a kosher home, and until recently, I had to drive to Encino and Tarzana to do my grocery shopping. This is so much more convenient.”
Bill Cohen, head of school at Kadima Hebrew Academy in West Hills, says the Heavenly Fresh market has been a major topic of conversation.
“I have heard from our families about the excitement this market has created. Everybody’s talking about it,” he said.
The opening of the market, Cohen said, “highlights West Hills as a very special community with a growing Jewish day school, a Jewish high school, a JCC and synagogues all within a four-mile area.”
The level of Jewish observance has increased in the neighborhood, residents say. In 2007, an RCC-sponsored eruv — a specified area in which Orthodox Jews may carry items on Shabbat — was completed in Woodland Hills and West Hills, but organizers were unable to raise the funds necessary to maintain the project.
Many patrons say the market has fast become a social meeting center, where people routinely bump into friends and neighbors.
Benji agrees: “It is becoming like the corner markets you have in the Jewish communities of New York and Chicago.”
At Chabad of West Hills, Rabbi Avi Rabin says that the market is a welcome addition to the neighborhood.
“I know there has been a lot of excitement in my community. I think it will influence people in the community in deciding to keep kosher,” said Rabin, who added that Chabad plans to hold a women’s Torah study group at the market’s cafe.
Having more Jewish resources in the area makes life easier for all Jews, regardless of their level of observance, Rabin said. “I think [the market] will have a big effect on the community at large. It will make West Hills a more overtly Jewish neighborhood,” he said.
Heavenly Fresh Kosher Market is located at 23644 Vanowen St., West Hills. (818) 932-7999. Hours are Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-8 p.m.; Friday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.; Saturday, closed; Sunday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
