Layla’s Bazaar, an international grocery store, opened on March 20 in downtown Orono. The store specializes in international products that are not commonly found in local grocery stores like Hannaford or IGA.

Owner Ali Aghamoosa, who is originally from Iran, opened this space in 2000 as the Orono Pharmacy, which is still in the back of the store. He said that members of the community volunteered to turn the “four walls” of the business space into what it was. The new additions are split into two sections, the international products and a general grocery section where you can get anything you need, from DVDs to milk to cat toys.

A clinical pharmacist by trade, Aghamoosa says he picked up a nose for business from his 27 years of experience in his trade.

“You develop a knack for business for you to survive,” Aghamoosa said. “We have to add other things other than pharmaceuticals to maintain the needs of the community.”

Many people have mislabeled this store as a Mediterranean grocery store, but Aghamoosa wishes for it to be known as an international market for all types of global products. He believes he is doing a service for many students who have travelled from other continents to come to the town of Orono to study.

“When you’re at school, sometimes you miss home… You think about the food, and hopefully for students, I can provide that for them,” Aghamoosa said.

The store offers hilal meats, which are allowed to be eaten under Islamic law, much like kosher products in Jewish culture. They also carry foreign candies, like Turkish Delight, popularized in “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe”, and spices that are not available in most supermarkets.

Aghamoosa said that stores in the area, like Hannaford and IGA, are not competition to his business. He said he lobbied local grocers to carry specialty products in larger supermarkets, but no one decided to follow through.

“I’ve been approached on several occasions to have some of the Persian groceries,” Aghamoosa said. “I never felt we had the population here to survive, recently we have had more people move into the area, so I said I’d give it a try.”

He mentioned that many people would travel to Boston specialty stores to get similar products.

“Whatever item I have, I know they don’t have,” Aghamoosa said. “Fortunately, no one took up the offer to include items in their store.”

Aghamoosa is very happy with how business has been running. When he first opened the pharmacy, he said it was very slow going. He thinks the new image is drawing people in and making them interested in new products.

“I’m getting a lot of comments, ‘what do you sell here?’” Aghamoosa said. “Foot traffic has increased, people stop in for one item, and end up with a few more.”

Aghamoosa stressed that the community drives what he carries in the store. He wants items from all cultures to be carried.

“This is a way introduce all culture together, because a lot of people here are international,” he said. “The people are really happy to see the new tastes, we all love it. It’s exciting.”

He plans to expand the business once he gathers more products to carry. The clerk at the front desk and member of the Aghamoosa family, Raheed, was the former owner of Lissus Pizza in Orono. He said the new business in the area is exciting for the citizens.

Layla’s Bazaar is located on 16 Mill Street, across from Pat’s Pizza, in Orono. For more information or to request new products, call 866-0815.

The Maine Republican Party’s youth initiative, Generation 207, hailed the party’s commitment to young voters at a forum in the University of Maine’s Memorial Union on Thursday.

The “Ask Me (Almost) Anything” interactive forum allowed audience members to converse with young leaders in the Maine Republican Party in person and on Twitter by including #Gen207 in their tweets.

A group of roughly 40 people — ranging from college age to the elderly — attended the event, where the main talking point was the party’s diversity, saying that people of all races and ages were welcome in the party.

“The Republican Party has a great message, and there are a lot of youth that feel the same way,” Lee Jackson, a University of Maine student who chairs Penobscot County Republican Committee, said.

One of the event’s three panelists, state Sen. Eric Brakey, R-Auburn, said he thinks the party’s message of “freedom and liberty” will resonate with teens and young adults.

“The Republican Party is becoming the party who is bringing the fresh ideas,” Brakey said, “[I]deas of personal freedom and I think they find that appealing.”

Nationally, Republicans had a good 2014, taking a majority in the U.S. Senate and widening their edge over Democrats in the House of Representatives.

Maine was no different as Voters in Maine’s Second District elected U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, giving the district its first Republican representative since 1995, with Gov. Paul LePage winning re-election.

That’s an encouraging sign for Republicans, but panelists said more work must be done. Alex Willette, a National Republican Committee member who works for LePage’s budget department, said the Republican Party must move away from being a “good old boys club.”

Abigail Bennett, a member of UMaine’s College Republicans, said initiatives like #Gen207 and SheLeads, a group empowering women leaders, are important to spreading Republican ideas to new demographics “that aren’t believed to be Republican.”

“I think more groups like Gen207 and SheLeads are showing diversity in the Republican Party,” Bennett said. “They’re showing new demographics that aren’t believed to be Republican.”

Hot topics like legalization of marijuana were also touched on by the three panelists, as well as the members of the audience. Brakey, a constitutionalist, led the conversation on marijuana. He said that the federal government should not regulate marijuana, as the constitution reads that individual state’s should decide on it’s legality.

Willette echoed Brakey’s point, but said successes in states like Colorado may not be indicative of what would happen in Maine.

Jackson admitted that the Democratic Party has done well in marketing their party to younger demographics.

“They have done a good job making the Republican Party look like old, white men that hate everyone besides them,” Jackson said. “Today was not full of old, white men, proving that the Republican Party is a diverse place.”

Jackson used the forum to plug the new “40 Under 40” project Gen207 was involved with. The project would highlight 40 conservatives under the age of 40 to look out for in the future. He said that he was excited by the competitiveness of the project.

“The list goes on and on and on, to 40 and double and triple that,” Jackson said. “I’m proud to see the nominations roll in.”

Jackson said after the meeting that it is important to have Republican voices at the University, regardless of its liberal reputation.

“Don’t write it off from what you heard,” Jackson said, “it’s really important to expose young people to civics. It’s great that we’re here on campus.”

Jackson said that there were no events planned in the near future for Gen207.

The University of Maine Outing Club held a meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 11, to discuss their future in a Carrabassett Valley cabin that houses its members on skiing and snowboarding trips to Sugarloaf Ski Resort.

A Facebook post from the Outing Club on Jan. 28 said that the cabin would be closing temporarily “due to pending legal issues.” The local police chief said his department has had little contact with the club recently. University officials say no particular event triggered the closing, and subsequent reopening, of the cabin.

In the short meeting, Jay Berkin, the president of the Outing Club, talked about the cabin’s status, mentioning that it was reopening. The club also passed out a waiver to its participants. The club referenced liability issues, but did not go into further detail, saying that issues were “in the process of being mitigated.”

Berkin also said that the club is looking to form a housing corporation, to operate the cabin like a fraternity operates an off-campus house. This means that it would be recognized by, but independent from, University of Maine Student Government (UMSG) and UMaine and be governed by alumni, assuming all of its own liabilities. These changes don’t have a timetable, according to Berkin.

Each student in the club was handed a waiver. The waiver was necessary to enter the cabin, according to Berkin. The waiver said the club, UMSG and UMaine were not liable for loss of life or limb.

The leader of the meeting read the waiver aloud, so there was no confusion about its contents —  the other 15 or so people laughed, talked to neighbors or interrupted with remarks. Berkin, nor other club members, would not give comment further on any event that triggered the waivers.

Carrabassett Valley Police Chief Mark Lopez said the department’s last contact with the club’s property on 3001 M.O.C. Drive was a burn permit that was filed on Jan. 28. Sometimes, there are small disturbances there, he said.

“I haven’t heard of anything up there recently,” Lopez said. “The last time I dealt with students here, I was taking some drunk kids back there, but they were all 21.”

Kenda Scheele, Senior Associate Dean of Students, has been working closely with the club. She said in an interview that there was no specific event that led to the waivers being put into place. She praised the initiative of the club for looking to form a housing corporation, saying that is the right thing to do.

“We have a good group of students, who are interested in the longevity of the club,” Scheele said. “They’re doing the right thing and I’m confident that we won’t stop talking in the future.”