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Seattle bakery pops into Scottsdale for a day

Scottsdale shop offers ‘molded’ hearing aids

BY ALEX GALLAGHER Progress Staff Writer

Former residents of Seattle or those who have traveled there can rejoice as one of the tastes of The Emerald City will be popping up in Scottsdale on Sunday April 6, when Piroshky Piroshky arrives with its famous handheld delicacies.

However, there is a catch.

Those interested in purchasing piroshkies – handheld pies stuffed with meats, cheeses and myriad fillings – from Piroshky Piroshky need to place an online pickup order by tomorrow, April 4, and all orders must exceed $50.

This is because Piroshky Piroshky will be baking all of its piroshkies at its home shop at the Pike Place Marketplace in Seattle before freezing and shipping to the parking lot of Trevor’s Liquor on April 6.

“In order for me to bake piroshkies fresh from scratch outside of Washington State – where I am licensed to do it – I would have to go through all kinds of licensing procedures,” said Olga Sagan, the owner of Piroshky Piroshky, who splits her time between Scottsdale and Seattle.

“Because this is prepaid and pre-ordered and it’s a business-to-consumers operation where we’re the ones delivering it, we’re able to find a solution to deliver our product to consumers without going through the hardship of extensive licensing.”

Although Seattle is her home base, Sagan felt the strain of the pandemic as downtown and tourism dropped.

“We were 100% retail-oriented so when the pandemic hit, our sales dropped to 90% – which caused a shock to the system,” Sagan said. “We felt the impact strongly because we didn’t have a strong neighborhood presence because then the office workers stopped coming downtown and the tourists disappeared.”

Unsure of how to keep her 30-year-old business running, Sagan had an idea to bring her food around the country.

“Some of the businesses decided to slow down and ride the wave but we went the opposite direction in figuring out how to bring our product to the people if they

Piroshky 1: Part-time Scottsdale resident and owner of Piroshky Piroshky in Seattle, Olga Sagan will bring the famed handheld pies to a pop-up event held outside of Trevor’s Liquors on Wednesday, April 6. (Special to the Progress)

see PIROSHKY page 23

BY ALEX GALLAGHER Progress Staff Writer

Hearing loss is often a tough thing to deal with and an even tougher thing to seek help for.

To help make things easier, Beltone West co-owner Kory Castro in Scottsdale has begun selling hearing aids that look nothing like conventional devices and can take 3D scans of patients’ ears to make molds for hearing aids.

“In the U.K. there’s a government program where people can receive hearing aids for free but they still have the same acceptance rate and market penetration as the United States,” Castro said. “For some reason, it’s not the cost that’s keeping people away, it’s something else.”

It is estimated that nearly 48-million Americans suffer from hearing loss, according to hearingloss.org. Castro believes that of those 48 million, a low number accept the fact that they are losing their hearing. “We have fit about 20% of the population that needs help with their hearing,” he said. “The rate of acceptance is pretty low.”

Of those accepting the fact that they cannot hear well, Castro says that roughly 20% of teens have reported some sort of hearing loss.

“Our average patient is around the mid60’s age but there are younger people who

Kory Castro

are identifying that they have issues hearing mostly from noise exposure,” he said.

The drop in age can be attributed to several factors, according to Castro.

“With people going to concerts, listening to music and wearing headphones constantly, as time goes on the average patient age will drop down,” he said.

Because of this, Castro invested in inventory and became the first supplier of self-fitting Jabra branded hearing aids that were approved by the FDA in late February. “With the Jabra device that is targeting people who are about 10 years younger than the average patient that we see,” he

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said. “There’s a huge need for people with mild to moderate hearing loss that aren’t getting that need fulfilled.”

Unlike conventional hearing aids that have a receiver that loops behind the ear and is attached to a wire with a small speaker that lodges into the patient’s ear, the Jabra hearing aids have the same appearance as earbuds that most people use to listen to music with.

“This looks a lot cooler than a regular hearing aid since everybody wears headphones and earbuds and they look exactly like that,” Castro said. “One of the big barriers that people have is the stigma of getting older and not wanting to wear a hearing aid because it forces them to admit that to themselves.”

Equipped with a wireless charging case and a ten-hour battery life, these are not the average hearing aids.

“A traditional hearing aid is designed to be worn all day long and compensate for the individual’s hearing deficit while replacing their natural hearing ability,” Castro said. “This product was designed to fulfill the needs of people who need help but want something different that they can use when they need to.”

The only caveat to these hearing aids is that they are only compatible with Apple devices due to the fact that Apple pioneered a special low-energy Bluetooth chip that was installed in its devices to be used specifically for hearing aids, according to Castro.

Because of this, Beltone West allows customers to trade in their Jabra hearing aids for higher-grade hearing aids within the first year.

“It’s an excellent way for us to get patients interested in exploring what’s going on in their ears, educating them and then providing a solution that works for their needs,” Castro said.

In addition to having the ability to stream music and phone calls through the buds, Castro admits these buds are more affordable than traditional hearing aids as well. “A traditional hearing aid ranges from about $1,000 to $3,000 per ear but the Jabra device starts at $799 and we offer a care plan for an extra $199 that adds an extra year’s warranty and covers maintenance and cleaning,” he said.

However, for those still looking to receive traditional hearing aids, Castro also invested in a high-tech in-ear scanner that creates custom molds to fit into each individual’s ears called a Lantos scanner.

“Our number one goal is helping people to improve their quality of life through better hearing, which we’ll do in whatever way we need,” he said.

But for the time being, he foresees that the Jabra headsets will serve as a big seller in his store because of the potential promise created by the advanced technology.

“For now, people who are interested in this product need to come into our clinic to have a hearing test done by one of our providers before we can dispense this to them,” he said. “However, by the end of the year, the FDA will approve a new category of hearing aid devices that can be purchased over the counter and can be shipped directly to the consumer.”

No matter what device patients choose, Castro underscores the importance hearing loss can bear on individuals and encourages people to get their hearing tested – which they can do for free at Beltone West’s shop.

“The longer this goes untreated, the more difficult it can become to treat in the future,” Castro said. “There is a correlation between untreated hearing loss and cognitive decline. As you get older and have hearing loss, the more likely you are to develop dementia or Alzheimer’s than someone who has treated their hearing loss because of how the brain interacts with the stimulus of our environment.”

Info: Beltone.com

PIROSHKY ���� page 21

could come to us,” she said. “Instead of delivering our products and mailing them, we decided to do a popup in Spokane and on our way there, I realized that if I could drive for five hours and everything held so well that I could fly the products for that long to other markets.”

Sagan formed a relationship with Alaska Airlines to ship her products to each popup site.

“They were happy to have our cargo business and we negotiated affordable rates for us to ship 150 boxes weighing around 2,000 pounds,” Sagan said. “We made a post on Facebook where we expressed interest in doing a pop-up shop and asked who would be interested in partnering with us,” Sagan said. “Trevor’s Liquor reached out to us and said it has a very large parking lot that hosts food truck events and they were fine with hosting our event.” “People can come, pick up their piroshkies, sit down and have a beer and maybe pick up some nice bottles of liquor,” Sagan said. “It’s a win-win since we get to have an amazing venue and they get to have some extra customer flow from our events.”

“In our marketplace location, there’s always waste at the end of the day because we bake on demand and we always have fresh baked products,” Sagan said.

“These events are so precise and it’s really incredible how we’re able to bake exactly what customers want and be able to go all over the country to meet our own fans. The feeling is indescribable.” With a variety of 30 fillings to choose from, some varieties have become a hit with customers.

“The beef and cheese is a bestseller but because we have a lot of repeat customers, people like our seasonal items and our monthly specials,” she said.

While piroshkies are an eastern European delicacy, Sagan made a point to experiment with fillings from other countries and cultures.

“We realized we had to diversify and experiment with different cultures,” she said. “We have tastes from all over the world. We have chicken pot pie piroshkies – which are more English – then we have smoked salmon potato — which is very northwestern.”

Piroshkies from Piroshky Piroshky will not be the only item available when Piroshky Piroshky pops into town as it will also offer its famous perogies and has partnered with other vendors to bring the cuisine of Seattle around the country.

“We also partnered with local marketplace vendors like Pike Place Chowder so customers can add those items to their cart for pick-up without delivery fees,” Sagan said.

For those who miss the chance to pick up goods from Piroshky Piroshky’s pop-up at Trevor’s Liquor on April 6, there will be another pop-up in Tucson the next day at Antigone Books.

Although Sagan expects all of her customers to pick up their items, she did not rule out the possibility of there being an unfulfilled order that could be s old at the event. Orders must be filed by 3:30 p.m. tomorrow, April 4, at piroshkybakery.com