‘This is the dream’: The Ghebreab brothers journey from forced conscription to successful West Central businessmen

Two brothers living in East Africa were faced with a difficult decision in 2009: continue a life of forced servitude or move to a new country for a fresh start.

It has been 17 years since the Ghebreab brothers made their choice, and today they are business partners who own four markets, five rental houses and a laundromat – all in the West Central neighborhood.

Their newest market, Broadway Foods, opened Jan. 30 to a slew of excited locals. Across the street, Broadway Laundromat, complete with 29 dryers and 33 washers, opened the same day.

“The main secret: be there, listen to what the customers want, then provide that,” the younger brother by a year, Daniel Ghebreab, said.

Located along the Red Sea in the Horn of Africa, Eritrea is the country the two brothers fled nearly two decades ago. Their country was once a part of neighboring Ethiopia, but formally gained its independence in 1993 after three decades of conflict. However, the exact borders between the two countries was never clearly defined.

Prior to being controlled by Ethiopia, Eritrea was colonized by the Italians until the British seized the area in 1941 during the East African Campaign of World War II. Asmara, the capital of Eritrea and the city where the Ghebreab brothers are from, is often referred to as “Africa’s Little Rome,” because of the proliferation of 1930’s Italian architecture.

After World War II, the United Nations annexed Eritrea, which is roughly the size of Pennsylvania, to Ethiopia in 1962. Eritrea’s struggle for independence began around the same time.

Because of this long history of conflict with their neighbor, Eritrea demanded that men and women between the ages of 18 and 40 must serve their country by joining the military.

Daniel and his brother Jolly served in the Eritrean military for the mandatory 18-month period. Once their term expired, the government extended their service period indefinitely – a common occurrence for the seventh youngest country in the world. Some who have escaped conscription said that mandatory service lasts at least 15 years, sometimes even longer. Human Rights Concern – Eritrea, an independent non profit dedicated to advocating for Eritreans at home and abroad, reported that the average monthly pay for a conscript was roughly equivalent to $10 American dollars in 2016.

While Eritrea has a relatively small population of roughly 3.7 million, estimates from the Migration Policy Institute report that up to as many as one-third of people born in Eritrea currently live in another country.

Many people, including officials from the United Nations, compare Eritrea’s forced conscription policy to modern-day slavery. While the Ghebreab brothers’ father escaped conscription and owned a trucking company transporting goods across the country, the two brothers were forced to decide between staying in the only country they’d ever known or leaving to make a life of their own.

“We were very young back then,” Jolly, 46, said. “We hadn’t started our life. But we had a hope to work and build up our life … The good thing here is you work hard, you get your result.”

When asked if they had found “the American Dream,” Jolly answered with a resounding and definitive yes. He became an American citizen in 2015.

The contemporary, gray brick exterior of Broadway Foods and Broadway Laundromat is a standout contrast to the rows of houses, many of which predate 1930, that dot the West Central neighborhood. The previous establishment, where Broadway Foods is now, was a third the size of the current store. It was completely torn down before the brothers had it rebuilt, bigger and better.

The upstairs of Broadway Foods has a deli with more than 20 menu items, stands with fresh fruits and vegetables, snacks and a vast assortment of savory items. But half of their space, located downstairs, has yet to be developed. In the near future, once they get a more steady source of income, the brothers hope to open a cafe in the basement. They’d also like to carry higher-end products at some point, like gourmet cheeses, wines, and other such delicacies. Weekly bingo nights are planned.

Emily Gwinn, who chairs the West Central Neighborhood Board, called Daniel and Jolly “awesome business proprietors who’ve invested in West Central.”

“Their goal is to provide fresh groceries and fresh produce,” Gwinn said, which she claimed has been and will continue to be a “game changer” for the neighborhood.

Historically, West Central is one of the lowest income neighborhoods not just in Spokane, but in the entire state. A Spokesman-Review article from former columnist Shawn Vestal, written in 2019 using data from the Census Bureau, reported that the 99201 zip code – which includes West Central and downtown– has a median family income of $26,685. It was the lowest of all zip codes across Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

The Environmental Protection Agency has an environmental justice mapping tool used to keep track of things like air pollution and hazardous waste. The tool also tracks the critical service gaps, like lack of broadband internet access and something called “food deserts.”

A food desert is defined as an urban area where it’s difficult to obtain healthy, nutritious and affordable food within a mile of one’s home. West Central is identified as a food desert year after year by the EPA’s environmental justice mapping tool.

“Here in this area, there are very few groceries,” Daniel Ghebreab said. “They call it a food desert. So that’s why we’re trying to change the neighborhood to make it a walking distance for (customers). A lot of them don’t have a car to drive, so you know what they do? They walk.”

Building a laundromat right next to Broadway Foods was another way, the brothers explained, that they could bring services to their community. Data from the Census Bureau illustrates how the number of laundromats in the country has declined by almost 20% since 2005. Opening a laundromat in today’s day and age is a risk, but the Ghebreab brothers don’t care. It’s what the community wants, they say. So while some remaining laundromats might be dirty and run-down, Broadway Laundromat is a sparkly, refreshing place with more than 60 fully functional machines and two full-time employees. Across all of their businesses, the Ghebreab brothers estimate that they have 20 or so employees, five of which work at Broadway Foods.

The Ghebreab brothers commitment, not just to the community, but to each other is more than evident. Daniel even named one of their markets Jolly Mart, after his older brother, as a way for them to make a lasting impact on the West Central neighborhood. Time and time again, they are taken aback by how welcoming and excited neighbors have been for more Ghebreab businesses to set up shop.

Jamey Bagby is one of the employees at Broadway Foods. She works the night shift at the brother’s Cenex store and works during the day in Broadway’s deli. Her husband also works for them as a stocker and a groundskeeper. She refers to the Ghebreab brothers as the best guys she’s ever worked for.

“I’m gonna be 51 this year,” she said. “And I don’t stick very often … In the last two years, they’ve been really good to us … They help you get ahead. We are renting a house from them right now.”

Daniel and Jolly have four homes that they rent out to folks in the neighborhood. Three out of the five homes they own are rented out by employees at a discounted rate. Bagby’s house is a two-story, four bedroom and two bath home she shares with her husband and one of her children.

“In Shadle, we were paying $1,900 for a two bedroom, one bath,” Bagby said. “I (now) pay $1,400.”

Bagby said the Ghebreab brothers went to her wedding when she got married last year, bought her an espresso machine as a wedding present and gave her two weeks of paid vacation to start 2026.

Bagby only had positive things to say about her employers and said she has no plans of leaving anytime soon. She also highlighted the healthy foods they serve to the community in a “country style” sort of shelving that makes it convenient to pick the perfect fruit or vegetable.

“I’ve only been here two years now,” she said. “Their main goal is the community.”

If you walk into Broadway Foods on any given day, there’s a good chance you’ll find Jolly or Daniel, maybe both, working a register or stocking shelves.

Today, Daniel is married with three kids, while Jolly has two children and another on the way. They both relish the lives they have built and the strong relationship they’ve maintained with each other and the community.

Had they made a different choice years ago, they might still be conscripts in Eritrea or working for their father’s trucking business or taking on hard manual labor jobs off the Red Sea coast.

Whatever path they could have chosen, they are happy that the dream they chose to chase was the American one.

“Yes, this is the dream,” Jolly said. “Especially when you come from that kind of situation; eager to work, to make your living, to change your life and then you have this opportunity, there’s nothing better than that. Matter of fact, it went way better than we thought. I never expected to be part of this neighborhood.”

“It lived past expectations,” he continued. “Not money wise, but the way we communicate with the people, the way we integrated ourselves.”