Now In Its Fifth Decade, Tosa’s Indian Groceries & Spices Moves and Expands

In a hurry and looking to grab something vegetarian and delicious? Need to brush up on your curry-making skills? On the hunt for a spice you can’t find anywhere else? Wisconsin’s largest Indian grocery has just moved to a new, larger location. Indian Groceries & Spices (IGS) now sits directly across from its old store on 107th St. in Wauwatosa. Inside there is something for cooks of all experience levels.

Walking into the new store can be a bit overwhelming at first, but owners Dinesh, Bharti, and Neil Sanghavi are cultural ambassadors of the highest order. After all, navigating 3,000 unique products isn’t easy without help; with over 150 varieties of spices alone (many mixed and packaged by the store), a friendly guide is more than welcome. Luckily, there are also resources in written form: Bharti became an author last year with her book, “Beyond the Curry with Bharti”, and has been offering cooking classes twice a year for the past 20 years.

IGS opened 41 years ago in Milwaukee and has been providing staples to the Milwaukee’s international emigre community ever since. Eleven years ago, IGS added a retail website to the mix, ishopindian.com. Currently, their products are used in restaurants nationwide, and they’ve expanded their distribution from Milwaukee to Toronto, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, and New Jersey. The Sanghavis had been looking for several years to expand their store here in the city, and now that their dream has come to fruition, Dinesh sums up the family’s wishes: “[that] everyone in Milwaukee with a passion for food and cooking will come and see what we’re all about.”