For Viktor Safronov and his wife, Galima, there’s nothing quite the taste of home. They were each born into Russian families and grew up in Kazakhstan, eating classic foods from Russia and the surrounding area. Among the dishes they enjoyed were caviar, cabbage rolls, shish kebab and traditional Russian meats and cheeses.
After moving to Canada, Viktor and Galima worked at a few different jobs but always missed those comforting dishes from home. At the time, Calgary only had one store that specialized in Russian food: A deli called the The Russian Store, which Viktor and Galima bought in 2005. Galima ran the day-to-day operations, while Viktor continued to work in construction.
The store soon became popular enough that Viktor came on as a full-time employee. Not long after that, the couple decided to move to a bigger location to meet the growing demands. “We were getting too many people and too many products for the small space that we were in,” says Viktor. “We had to expand, so we found this new place and built it up for what we needed.” With the expanded space, Viktor and Galima are now serving all of the foods they loved growing up.
