Abrahim Sahadi opened A. Sahadi & Co. on Washington Street in Manhattan in 1890. In the first few decades of the 20th century, the store catered to the sizable Syrian and Lebanese populations that lived on the "Lower West Side." Construction of the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel (formerly the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel) pushed the thriving business out of the neighborhood and into a storefront on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. There the three generation family-owned and run business continued to grow. They purchased a factory building in Sunset Park in the 1980s to house their expanding wholesale business. And from the small storefront seen here in 1958 at 187 Atlantic Avenue Sahadi Importing Co. has grown into the two adjacent storefronts at nos. 189 and 191.

Brooklyn has long been a gateway and refuge for immigrants. In the 19th century, Irish and Scandinavian families lived and worked on Brooklyn’s waterfront near present-day Brooklyn Bridge Park. By the following century, communities of Arab, Hispanic, Italian, and Puerto Rican newcomers put down roots along the western end of Atlantic Avenue near Pier 6 at Brooklyn Bridge Park. The Brooklyn waterfront and New York harbor have served as sites of arrival, departure, and employment for many of these immigrants.