When you first walk through the front doors, the new Euroland supermarket in Deerfield Beach feels like any other full-size grocery store.
You’ll notice produce in the right front area, dairy and cheeses as you walk past the right wall, then breads and pastries, meats and seafood along the back, frozen foods along the left wall, and beer and wine as you wind your way to the checkout aisles.
A large display of prepared foods is situated near the frozen section, and dry goods are packed into the middle aisles.
But take a closer look: Most of the labels are unfamiliar, and many aren’t in English.
That’s because Euroland specializes in products from Eastern European countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania. It also stocks a large number of kosher items.
The 25,000-square-foot store was opened on Dec. 13 at 1835 W. Hillsboro Blvd. by members of the family that has run Matryoshka Deli Food in Sunny Isle Beach since 2012 and Europa Gourmet in Hollywood since 2014.
Euroland is celebrating its opening with a ribbon-cutting party from noon to 4 p.m. on Jan. 27. A flier announcing the event promises samples, discounts, prizes, giveaways, live entertainment, and opportunities to meet the store’s staff and learn more about its unique products.
The stores in Hollywood and Sunny Isles Beach are close to Hallandale Beach and its large population of Russians and Ukrainians.
Yuliia Kovalchuk, head of marketing for Euroland, said the decision to open a store in northern Broward County was a response to “an increasing number of requests from a large community of our customers living in Deerfield Beach and Boca Raton.”
Shoppers will find an abundance of items you’d have to look hard for and still might not find at Publix or Walmart:
A wide array of sausages, bolognas, salamis and other cured meats. Duck and mushroom pate.
Smoked herring and other fish; dried, canned or jarred.
Next to the frozen pizzas are various kinds of burek rolls, burek pies and bourekas — pastry turnovers filled with cheese, potatoes, spinach or mushrooms.
A line of hot soups, including borscht, beetroot, okroshka, chicken, shurpa, pea, spinach and beetroot.
Hot prepared dishes are the centerpiece. For $10.99 a pound, you can fill containers with beef stroganoff, kabobs, rice pilaf with lamb, greek salad, tuna salad, crab salad, and more.
Tables and chairs are available for customers who want to eat as soon as they buy.
Kovalchuk said the prepared food station is the store’s most unique offering.
“Eastern European food preferences tend to be rooted deeply in history and the intricate cooking process. Unlike the typical preparation of many American dishes, traditional European recipes often require two to three hours of cooking time,” she said in a written response to questions about the store.
“We’ve painstakingly assembled a team of chefs, selected from the best recipes, and developed our menu to offer the largest assortment of dishes you can try right in our supermarket.”
She said the buffet and deli sections will be equipped with “tasting areas” where customers can sample various dishes.
Among dishes that Americans would not recognize but would love if they tried, Kovalchuk said, are Georgian khinkali (meat-filled dumplings), Belarusian draniki (potato pancake) and fluffy Ukrainian syrniki (pancakes made with farmer’s cheese).
“These dishes truly embody the diversity and historical significance of their respective cultures,” she said.
Euroland is operated by a Davie-based company called Mega Active Retail System (M.A.R.S.) Inc. The Florida Division of Corporations website identifies brothers Viktor and Valerii Pugachov as its authorized members.
Kovalchuk says the Pugachov brothers occupy leadership positions in the family business that runs Mega Active Retail Systems. She declined to identify other involved members of the Pugachov family, saying, “Our primary focus is to maintain a high level of professionalism and quality in our work, keeping personal aspects away from public attention.”
She acknowledged that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has made it more challenging to supply the company’s stores.
Since the war started, she said, “we’ve been unable to source many of our best-selling products from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.”
The company relies on “constantly adjusting logistics and seeking new products to ensure a full and diverse range for our customers,” she said, adding, “It’s a long, complex and meticulous process, but we are making it work.”
Prices of goods inside Euroland are lower than shoppers might expect, which Kovalchuk says is a result of purchasing in large volume and importing directly from Europe.
Consumers might also notice that members of the store’s staff speak languages of the nations where its products and target market come from. Kovalchuk says the store looks for employees who speak English and at least one other language to ensure “that regardless of where our customers come from, they can comfortably communicate in their native language.”
Food connoisseurs on the “Let’s Eat, South Florida” Facebook page give the store generally high marks. Some said they enjoyed discovering unfamiliar products, while others said they were confused trying to identify items that weren’t labeled in English.
Kovachuk says the owners are “already receiving numerous requests for the opening of our next supermarket.”
Where it will be located will be revealed “very soon,” she said.
Euroland is located in Trail Plaza in the northwest corner of West Hillsboro Boulevard’s intersection with Military Trail in Deerfield Beach. Open seven days a week beginning at 8 a.m., it closes at 10 p.m. from Monday through Saturday and at 9 p.m. on Sunday.
Ron Hurtibise covers business and consumer issues for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He can be reached by phone at 954-356-4071, on Twitter @ronhurtibise or by email at rhurtibise@sunsentinel.com.