Johnson County cafe and market opens. It’s owned by couples from Ukraine and Israel

Volodymyr Polishchuk, 43, has lived in the United States for 25 years, but he still craves the occasional glass of birch tree juice.

The Ukrainian drink, thin like water and sweet like iced tea, is hard to find in the Kansas City area. So are the foil-wrapped chocolates he used to chew, and the pierogies, a kind of dumpling, he once enjoyed.

“I like barbecue,” he said. “There’s only so many barbecue places. … I want to try something else.”

While reminiscing with other Eastern European immigrants about the delicacies of their childhood, Volodymyr and his wife, Iuliia, began to dream of a place where Kansas City natives and Ukrainians alike could gather around tables, sip lattes and share forkfuls of fluffy Napoleon cream cake. Their friends from Israel, Alex and Galit Israeli, were also thinking of opening a market.

“Perfect,” Volodymyr thought, and together the two couples began to create European Market and Cafe, which opened last week at 11170 Antioch Road in Overland Park.

The market, which sells coffee, desserts from Europe — and soon, brunch and lunch — took over the old Our Place Indian Grocery.

Now its shelves are full of European breads, pastas and teas, its coolers full of deli meat and cheeses from Germany, Poland and beyond. Plus, a wide selection of kosher offerings, courtesy of the Israelis.

The couples are always looking for suggestions on what to offer. A box for requests sits on one of the market’s shelves.

Its cafe serves Messenger coffee.

While a large portion of the cafe’s clientele is from Europe, Volodymyr said he’s pointed quite a few Kansas City natives to his favorite dishes, something he doesn’t think his Midwestern neighbors would have been as interested in a few decades ago.

“The tasting palate of Kansas City has diversified over the years,” he said.

The cafe is right near the front door, with a bar and several seats for those who order food and desserts at the counter.

Further in are rows of canned and pickled goods. Accents sprinkled throughout the store were crafted by Iuliia, who runs a design business and is an artist.

Volodymyr keeps busy, too. In addition to his cafe and position as senior information technology manager at Oracle Cerner, he’s preisdent of Stand With Ukraine KC, a nonprofit assisting Ukrainian citizens overseas.

And while the store fulfills a personal desire for Volodymyr, he says it accomplishes a social goal, especially after Russia invaded Ukraine last year and caused millions to flee.

Ukrainian refugees facing resettlement often struggle to find work, especially when few speak fluent English. On Wednesday, the store was staffed by four Ukrainian refugees. Each said they’d lived in the U.S. for a year or less.

The market has 12 employees.

“The immigration to the United States has been treacherous,” Volodymyr said.

But as he sat in a lime green chair and sipped his coffee, he discussed how his business partners, Alex and Galit, weren’t in the store. They were in Israel when Hamas attacked civilians near the Gaza strip last weekend and will likely stay there for a few more weeks, Volodymyr said.

“We’re deeply appalled by what’s going on in the world right now,” he said. “This becomes a safe place for people that suffer from conflict, whatever that conflict may be. Nothing but the good memories.”

European Market is open from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.