SURMA – The Ukrainian Shop

As of June 10, this amazing store is going to be history. A bit of my heritage will be a memory. My late mother always loved the Ukrainian Easter eggs. Had to buy a few. Surma has a vast collection of these beautiful eggs. They also have lovely boxes, icons, books, music, clothes, and honey.

Whoa. Like visiting your Ukrainian Grandma’s shop (if you had a Ukrainian grandma). This is one of those extremely special places in NYC. It seriously looks as though time has not moved inside– old books abound, vintage seamstressing patterns, Ukrainian dresses and blouses, beeswax goods, it is a vast and utterly fascinating array of goods. Some are very cheap– lots of rare books in Ukraine, stuff you won’t find on amazon or at the strand for sure. While some are expensive– the beautiful garments for example. The day we went in there was this sweet older lady managing the shop. She was so nice and outgoing with us telling us about each item we looked at. They have an impressive range of icons as well, at least probably the best I’ve seen in NYC. If you want to see a «pre millenial» business Surma is the place to go. It’s probably like nothing you’ve been to, unless you’re from Kiev!

They have the best honey in NYC!

Nifty little shop that’s still around, with potential gifts that neither side might understand.

There are two Surma’s on Unilocal and I like it so much I am reviewing both of them! Great gifts, unique items, interesting books (in both English and Ukrainian [maybe some in Russian too]). Lots of sheet music, glassware, Ukrainian style painted eggs AND THE UKRAINIAN EMBROIDERY ROSES. Great store.

My goodness, how do you review Surma? It’s a NYC institution, a fixed point in time and space, a retail version of an embassy of Ukraine… unique and wonderful, in my opinion. If you’re of Ukrainian heritage you probably know about it already, and going back there feels like visiting the old family home with its familiar sights and sounds and smells. But I’ve taken friends who aren’t a smidge Ukrainian here, and they’ve all understood the time-​capsule quality of the place — the original front door and its bell, the wood and glass display counters, the walls covered with musical instruments, portraits of poets and patriots, bee-​keeping equipment, the Easter eggs, the honey, the embroidered blouses and runners and ribbons… it’s a small place, but like Doctor Who’s Tardis, it’s bigger on the inside. The honey is wonderful — lots of varieties, in glass jars — the greeting cards unique (I love the recipe cards, illustrated by one of the Surma family members), and all the while Ukrainian music plays softly from speakers tucked high among all the goods on the walls. It’s sort of like a mashup of the Museum of Folk Art and the Tenement Museum, except almost everything is for sale. When you visit, the owner might be chatting at the counter in the back with a longtime customer who came in for the latest Ukrainian Weekly newspaper, and you’ll hear some Ukrainian, which is like a gentler, more southern version of Russian. Visit this unique, comfortable, laid-​back, beautiful old store and experience the vibe — a mix of the old East Village and old Ukraine.

This place is dank and dark, which are probably the same two words I would use to describe the country of Ukraine. Maybe I’d add «depressed» or «depressing» in there too. I would have given it a two-​star rating, except the two-​star rating says, «Meh, I’ve experienced better.» I can’t say I have experienced another Ukrainian Store, so I have nothing to compare it to. The staff was not particularly friendly, but I kind of expected it. It was so dark and musty inside, and the place creeped me out a little bit.
I found this store interesting to walk through ONCE. I don’t think I would ever go back. Most of the items are religious-​themed… lots of Christmas handicrafts and items from the motherland. I ended up buying postcard recipes. I still have yet to make either one of them, mostly because I am not a fan of grease and overly-​heavy foods… not a huge fan of Russian/​Ukrainian food.
However, they have a great honey selection. That being said, don’t buy a large container of buckwheat honey unless you KNOW you really like buckwheat honey. I found out that I don’t.

I love this place. Unique items in a friendly atmosphere. Just doors down from McSorley’s Ale House for a beverage and relaxation.

I went here for the first time yesterday and met the owner, who is the grandson of the original owner. The store has been here for about 100 years. The area used to be home to many more Ukrainian immigrants. This weekend there’s the St. George Church Ukrainian festival on the street in front of the shop. The store has a great selection of Ukrainian Easter eggs which are beautifully designed. They carry CDs, books, magazines, newspapers, porcelain, folk dress, scarves, cards, and more. A great stop!

From what I observed inside of the shop, Surma is a pretty thorough collection of Ukrainian miscellanea: they’ve got a range of Ukrainian costumes, fabrics, painted easter eggs and easter egg dyes, little yeast packets and recipe cards for Ukrainian/​Russian dishes like vareniki (mmmm) and borsch, cards and postcards with Ukrainian themes/​Ukrainian style artwork, music, children’s books, shelves of all kinds of books about Ukraine and in Ukrainian (and/​or possibly Russian, I didn’t read through them thoroughly enough), wooden Russian (or, I guess, Slavic) lacquer boxes and pins, keychains, patches of the Ukrainian flag, and even newspapers pertaining to Ukraine/​the Ukrainian communities in America. There’s plenty more stuff than what I described, and definitely something for every kind of person interested in Ukraine or Ukrainian culture, whatever their reasons.
The prices are what you would expect from any kind of touristy shop in any town. Example: one of the blouses with Ukrainian-​style embroidery cost $ 150. I believe the lacquer pins are $ 12 a piece. The smaller items tended to be cheaper. If you’re not rich, don’t worry: you can definitely find something there to fit every kind of budget.
The place is worth checking out, if only for the fact that such a place exists and that it has been open for almost a century.
If you haven’t overdosed on Ukrainian-​ness after your experience in this store, there is what appears to be a Ukrainian Orthodox church (again, didn’t read the signs thoroughly enough) right across the street, where you can complete your excursion on a truly Ukrainian note: with a dose of guilt and repentance (kidding).

Cute little Ukrainian shop!!! I spent forever inside, just looking at every single thing. I bought a really rad 60s inspired print of Mary and baby Jesus, I’m not religious at all but it looked really great. I also bought some random wooden mushrooms, that was more of an impulse buy.
Really cool note, the shop sells wheat and honey! Whaaaat? I wanted to buy a sack of wheat, but it really wouldn’t make any sense, as I have no need for wheat.
The CD selection is hilarious. Some of those covers look like my grandfather discovered Photoshop and decided he could become a graphic designer. Really great, top notch stuff, I’m sure.
If you’re ever in the area, you really ought to stop by, even if you aren’t really into eastern european stuff. It was pretty cool!

My last day in NYC I found myself in the NoHo area again. My main interest in all things Ukrainian stems from my good friend who talks about his heritage constantly.
Most of the items in this shop I had no idea what they were but what I thought were really neat were the painted eggs and clothes. The only thing I ended up getting was some sparkly Ukrainian stickers for my friend. If you’re a few doors down at McSorleys or getting some fries at Pommes Frites spend a few minutes in this shop. It’s just damn cool.