Tagged: crime

Corner stores in Oakland are predominantly run by immigrants from the Middle East. Most of the merchants are originally from Yemen. Some estimates report that 80 percent of Bay Area convenience stores are operated by Yemenese.

One of those stores is Foothill Market on 19th and  Foothill in Oakland’s Fruitvale district. The Hassan family runs it. Ali Farrad Hassan is a first generation Yemeni-American, and has been working in his uncle’s store for a few years now.

Oakland is known for its food trucks, which serve everything from tacos and tamales to West African cuisine.  But few know that this latest culinary trend got its start in Fruitvale almost 30 years ago. Fruitvale still has the city’s largest concentration of mobile food vendors – a predominantly immigrant population. These micro-businesses provide owners low overhead and the opportunity to become successful entrepreneurs. But if running a small business isn’t hard enough in this economy, vendors now face the added challenge of armed robbery.