News

By Tom Vartabedian on December 12, 2013
What started out as a trip to Armenia in 2005 has turned into a burgeoning enterprise for Ed Baykar Dervishian.
Baykar Dervishian displays a number of items for sale as proprietor of ‘The Armenian Vendor.’Baykar Dervishian displays a number of items for sale as proprietor of ‘The Armenian Vendor.’ Together with his Armenia-born wife Narine, the two have nurtured a business called “The Armenian Vendor,” which travels the circuit at bazaars and conventions peddling anything and everything under the native sun.
It’s America’s answer to the Vernissage—the open-air market you’ll find in Yerevan—with merchandise that stretches the gamut from CDs and DVDs to food, T-shirts, games, and promotional items.
On a recent visit to Sts. Vartanantz Church in Providence, I stumbled across a recording of Armen Tigranian’s opera “David Beg,” which I hadn’t heard since my childhood days, and—get this—a scented candle with red, blue, and orange wax.