Sahadi's Spice Shop in Brooklyn: 200 Bulk Bins, Open Daily

Sahadi's, at 187 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, is a Lebanese family grocery that has sold spices on this block since 1948, and it is open every day of the week from 10 am to 7 pm. The shop calls itself an old-world place, with aisles of spices, more than 200 bulk bins of roasted nuts, dried fruits and olives, and barrels of coffee beans. Its own Lebanese 7 Spice costs $9.95 a bag on the online store.

The Sahadi family, originally from Lebanon, first opened the business in 1895 in Manhattan's Little Syria, the immigrant neighborhood around Washington Street in Lower Manhattan. In 1899 The New York Times called it a wonderful shop selling native wines, swords, lamps and water pipes. Wade Sahadi moved it to Atlantic Avenue in 1948, when construction of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and the community's own migration pushed the old neighborhood out.

Wade's son Charlie took over in 1967 with his wife Audrey and his brothers Bob and Richie. Today the shop is run by Charlie's children, Ron Sahadi and Christine Sahadi Whelan, with Christine's husband Pat Whelan, and a fourth generation has started working the floor. The family notes that Sahadi's is a James Beard America's Classic and a New York State Historic Business, and that old Sahadi halvah tins appear in an exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York.

The house blends are the reason to come here rather than to a supermarket. Lebanese 7 Spice, $9.95, mixes allspice, black pepper, cinnamon, ginger, mahlab, nutmeg and cloves, and the mahlab, a ground cherry pit, is what gives it a faint almond note. Syrian Baharat, $9.50, drops the ginger and adds coriander and cardamom, which makes it rounder and better on lamb. Buy both if you can't decide, since they're very different in a pan.

For single spices, the store's ground sumac is $14.00 and comes from the deep red berries of the sumac bush, coarsely ground the way Lebanese cooks use it on fattoush. Aleppo pepper, $13.25, is ground with a larger grain than standard chile flakes and is mildly smoky rather than fiery. If you are cooking North African food, the hand-blended Ras El Hanout is $9.50. Spanish saffron, sold as a 1-gram glass jar of Mancha-Oro, costs $14.95.

If you would rather someone else did the seasoning, two blends are built for a single dish. Meat Shawarma Seasoning, $10.50, combines allspice, coriander and cumin with other spices for beef or lamb, and Chicken Shawarma Seasoning is $13.25. Both are labeled Sahadi's, and they make a good gift for someone who cooks but has never shopped on Atlantic Avenue. All the prices here come from the online store, which ships nationwide and offers free shipping on orders over $75.

Sahadi's is an importer as well as a retailer, so the bulk side moves fast. Nuts, dried apricots, figs and olives sit in open bins near the front, coffee beans come out of barrels, and the packed spices line the aisles behind them. Everything in the bins is sold by weight, so decide how much you want before you start scooping, because the store fills up quickly on weekend afternoons.

Don't leave without the deli. The family says about 30 prepared dishes are made daily and change with the seasons, from its hummus and tabbouleh to kibbeh and kebabs. One honest note: if you came only for spices, skip the coffee aisle and the cheese case on a crowded Saturday, since they slow you down. Go on a weekday just after the 10 am opening, when the aisles are clear and you can read the labels.

The refrigerated cases are worth a slow pass too. The family lists specialty cheeses from around the world, smoked fish and pâtés, and because it imports directly and has bought from some suppliers for generations, stock turns over faster than at a typical grocer. If you live out of town, the store ships its hummus and several other prepared foods nationwide, and nuts, coffee and dried fruit can be ordered through its Mercato marketplace pages. For a special order, check the FAQ first, then email the Atlantic Avenue team, who answer at info.aa@sahadis.com.

If Atlantic Avenue is packed, the family's second grocery is at Industry City in Sunset Park, open every day from 11 am to 7 pm. It carries the same spice aisles and bulk bins, adds a café with table service and brunch, and runs a happy hour on weekdays from 2 to 6 pm with tap wine and tap beer at $7 and classic cocktails at $10. It's the better pick if you want to sit down to mezze after shopping.

Atlantic Avenue between Court and Clinton Streets is still the remains of Brooklyn's Middle Eastern shopping strip, so walk the block before heading off. When you're done, head west on Atlantic toward the harbor. In about ten minutes you reach Pier 6 at the southern end of Brooklyn Bridge Park, with playgrounds, a beach volleyball court and the ferry landing for Governors Island in season.

From Pier 6 the park's waterfront path runs north past the piers toward the Brooklyn Bridge, with views of Lower Manhattan the whole way. If you would rather stay up on the bluff, the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, entered from the end of Montague Street, gives you the same skyline from above, and the quiet brownstone blocks of Brooklyn Heights in between are a pleasant detour with a bag of pistachios in your pocket.

Sahadi's Atlantic Avenue, 187 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Hours: every day 10 am to 7 pm. Email: info.aa@sahadis.com. The nearest subway stop is Borough Hall on the 2, 3, 4 and 5 lines, about a seven-minute walk, and Bergen Street on the F and G is similar. Online orders ship nationwide, free over $75. Prices quoted come from the store's online shop at sahadis.com.