Shi Eurasia

This shoebox-size Eurasian minimart is the brainchild of three friends who met at the University of Manchester and hatched a plan to one day open a store together in NYC. Homesickness informs the delightfully odd stock on the shelves, made up of snacks, soft drinks and other creature comforts the shopkeepers miss from their native countries—England, Iceland and Malaysia. The U.K. imports go well beyond the usual suspects like McVitie’s digestive biscuits and Cadbury chocolates, offering harder-to-find gems such as Ribena—a condensed black-currant juice—and Twiglets, knobbly sticks of puffed wheat that taste vaguely like Marmite. Other corner-shop staples include Nescafé instant-cappuccino pouches, Heinz Salad Cream (a tangy mayonnaise) and crinkly packets of Walkers potato crisps.