CLEVELAND — More than two years after a fire destroyed their entire business, a beloved grocery store is finally back.
Burgers, phillys, a butcher, and a grocer — Cleaveland Grocers and Grill is now fully operating again. But the journey wasn’t easy.
In October 2023, a fire tore through their 5,500-square-foot Brook Park location, reducing years of hard work to ash.
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“We built that location with our hearts and soul, from ground up, and that was the first business that we gave into and to see it burn like that. That was, that was pretty hard,” said owner Fasih Syed.
The flames took the building, but not the vision.
We were there when Syed opened a smaller location in Strongsville focused on their grilled products.
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“Our old customers would come in the store. They're like, oh, where's the store at,” said Syed.
But it didn’t meet the demand for the groceries and halal meats they were known for.
“The initial intention of opening a store in Cleveland was to serve hand slaughtered halal meat that I couldn't find that anywhere or in Cleveland,” said Syed.
More than two years later, Syed took over Rumi’s Market — expanding his grilled specialties, providing more products than before, and continuing to serve the Muslim community with the butchered products they trust.
“They are not mechanically slaughtered. When a customer comes in here they can have the peace of mind their meat is hand-slaughtered,” said Syed.
Coming back from such devastation, Syed reminds anyone who feels like they’ve lost everything to keep going.
“Just don't give up, stuff happens in life that makes you break down, but if you just keep fighting, you can rise from the ashes,” said Syed.
