You won’t find many of the items that line the Sari-Sari Store’s shelves in many – if any – other Clatsop County businesses. Chocolate covered biscuit sticks, tempura batter, coconut jam, salted shrimp fry, bamboo shoots, dried seaweed, kimchee, toyomansi – a Filipino lemon soy sauce, Mang Tomas All Purpose Sauce … and hundreds more. If you don’t see what you’re looking for, ask, and chances are Marlene Alcobendas can get it for you.

Where do the products you carry come from?

“Mostly Filipino products because I’m Filipino and I’m familiar with Filipino cooking.

“I get them from Portland … (and) a couple vendors from Seattle. I transport all these products from Portland myself, a little bit at a time with my Beetle (she nods toward a red Volkswagen in the parking lot) … That’s my truck.”

You carry food items from many different cultures here as well, right?

“That’s why I named the store ‘International’ because my goal is to bring things in for different nationalities. … Right now I have approximately 400-some different products. I’m planning to increase them as I get ideas from people.

“There are people that order stuff like fresh vegetables – vegetables that your normal Fred Meyer and Safeway don’t carry.”

For example?

“Bitter melon, chayote (like a papaya, used in sauteing), lemon grass, fresh young coconut, balut (duck egg with embryos inside). If you watch Fear Factor, they have that as one of the dares.

“I try to bring vegetables at least once a week.”

How did you get into this business?

“I graduated from Astoria High School in 1977. When Bumble Bee closed, we were forced to look for work more towards Portland. My husband and I found work at Tektronix back in the early 1980s.

“One summer when my husband and I had come back to celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary, we were just reminiscing … and (we) decided to invest here. (The neighbors) across the street are Filipino and we got invited for a barbecue … and we found this house for sale. We bought the property back in October 2001.

“The Filipino community that we knew back in the ’70s came for (a housewarming party). They’re elderly now and they’re tired of having to go to Portland to shop for Filipino food. That’s where I got my idea basically.

Your business opened in February. How have things been going these first four months?

“So far, so good. Business started really slow when the war broke out.

“Basically right now it’s just word of mouth from people right here in the neighborhood, so I’m constantly seeing new customers every day.”

Who are your customers?

“Just everybody. I don’t really have somebody in particular. The reason why I brought the oriental food is because that’s the kind of food that they don’t have here … My goal is to be able to service the different cultures in the community.

“There’s a lot of people that come in and they’re so tickled that there’s such a store here.

“There’s some Thai people here, I’m discovering. People from Pilau, Hawaii, of course Filipinos. There’s a couple of Koreans, a couple Chinese, Tibetan, Vietnamese, Mexican, Guamanian. A lot of Caucasian people who come and say, ‘How do you cook this?’ We give out recipes and Jingkee (Briones, Alcobendas’ niece and only employee) is a good cook and can explain it better than I can.”

What does Sari-Sari mean?

“Sari-Sari is a Filipino word for mixture or variety. … In the Philippines, this is basically your mini mart.”

What kind of volume do you do?

“Right now, I average a little over $100 a day in sales. Of course, I want to do more. … I’m not looking at this to make millions. I’m basically here to serve the community.”

– Benjamin Romano