Psst! There’s a European Market hidden just south of Ballantyne

Aram Hirapetyan shows off bolochki pastries, a tradition from Ukraine.

Tom Hanchett

It looks like an ordinary convenience store attached to an ordinary gas station. But go inside and you’re in Europe.

Aram Hirapetyan and his father George opened European Market in April of 2019. To find it, head south on Route 521 through Ballantyne. Half a mile after you cross the line into South Carolina, look to your left for an Exxon gas station labelled Cobblestone Creek Market.

“We’re originally from Armenia and also lived in Russia seven-eight years,” explains Aram. Foods from that area “are our core,” he says, along with items from Germany, Poland, Hungary and other parts of eastern Europe.

Want sardines? European Market stocks six kinds. Not to mention an array of Uncle Vanya’s Ukrainian style condiments.

There’s herring and sardines. Ukrainian fruit preserves and frozen Siberian dumplings. Dark chocolate with a picture of the Kremlin, lager beer with a picture of Russian bar-maid.

Sausages are a particular specialty. You’ll find wursts ready to grill, salami and bologna ready to slice, soft braunschweiger ready to spread on toast. I counted 47 varieties before I lost track, munching on a sample salami slice.

The refrigerated case holds cabbage rolls and a variety of the dumplings called pierogi, ready for you to take home to heat and eat. All are handmade by Natalia Sokil, a Ukrainian immigrant in Spartanburg, and delivered to this store each Friday morning.

Atop the deli counter, reach into a basket of Sokil’s homemade bolochki, a Ukrainian cousin of the Polish pastry kolachi. Sokil prepares yeast dough, a bit sweet, and rolls it around a filling of poppyseeds in honey. Slice the pastry to expose the pinwheel swirl inside.

Natalia Sokil, a Ukrainian immigrant, guides half a dozen European Market stores from her headquarters near Spartanburg. She also hand-makes traditional foods such as these bolochki pastries.

Sokil is not just a cook and baker but an entrepreneur. She started the first European Market in Chattanooga in 1999. It became an improbable success. Eastern European immigrants had seldom ventured into the South during the big immigration wave of the 1880s – 1920s, preferring less-impoverished parts of the U.S. But today there are enough Europeans — and others with cosmopolitan tastes — that Sokil boasts five shops of her own in the Greenville/Spartanburg/Chattanooga vicinity as well as the franchised store here.

European Market / Cobble Creek Market

9792 Charlotte Highway (SC 521)

Indian Land, SC 29707

(864) 590 – 6760

Drive by on SC 521 south of Ballantyne and it looks like an ordinary Exxon station. Inside, you are in eastern Europe.

Monday – Friday 6 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Saturday 7 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Sunday 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.

(Deli staff will custom slice salami and bologna 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. daily)

Wursts, salamis, bolognas and bacon fill the cold cases at European Market.

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