THE NEW NEW YORKERS

Throwing the Book at 'Em

Independent Yellow Pages successfully targeting ethnic markets

By Samantha Henry. Samantha Henry is a freelance writer.

10/23/2002
Newsday
QUEENS
Copyright © 2002, Newsday. All Rights Reserved.

Ismer Mjeku, the publisher of the Albanian Yellow Pages , started his small business in 1998 on a hunch.

"I heard so much of people asking questions like where is this address, how can I find the phone number of this association, of this church, of this mosque, basically looking for Albanian information, which they didn't have in one place," said Mjeku.

With an original print run of 25,000 books, he now publishes 80,000 copies of ethnically targeted Yellow Pages directories each year, distributing them across the United States and in Canada and Europe.

"I had this idea: 'How can I put together this information and make money from that?' I knew about the Yellow Pages , I had a big one in my office, but I thought it was impossible to do that," said Mjeku, who works on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. "Then I saw the Jewish Yellow Pages , and saw the format, and I thought 'Wow, this is it.' "

Whether you're shopping for Brazilian cashew juice, a Kosher gift basket or an Albanian wedding photographer, you can probably find it in the strikingly extensive number of ethnically and linguistically specific Yellow Pages available in the city.

Still published largely by telecommunication firms, the Yellow Pages are now the most widely referenced books in the world, second only to the Bible, says the Yellow Pages Integrated Media Association , which represents publishers of the directories around the country.

Independently produced versions of the Yellow Pages take in about 13 percent of the book's total estimated $13.5 billion in advertising revenue - a reflection, in part, of the growing spending power of many immigrant groups nationally, according to the Kelsey Group, a research firm that monitors the directory publishing market.

A big reason the independents have been able to cut in on the action is the " Yellow Pages " - and the ubiquitous walking-fingers symbol - are not copyrighted in the U.S., the Kelsey Group says. So, anyone can use them to create a version of their own.

While there are no formal estimates of how many independent publishers exist, a stroll through ethnically mixed Queens neighborhoods and a peek in the stores turned up versions catering to Albanians, Brazilians, Arabic-speaking citizens, Indians, Poles and Koreans, to name just some.

For his part, Assaf Ran, the founder and publisher of the Jewish Yellow Pages that Mjeku cited as his inspiration, is expanding beyond that particular niche into the mainstream directory business. Ran, an Israeli-born businessman who started his business in Queens in 1990, was so successful with his Jewish Yellow Pages that he was able to take the company public on Wall Street and finance a venture into the mainstream Yellow Pages market. He now publishes "New Yellow," a general Yellow Pages directory covering all of Manhattan, which is in direct competition with directories from Verizon and other large publishers.

"We reached the top of our market and managed to stabilize ourselves and settle on a level in which we didn't see growth potential anymore," Ran said. "Since it's the nature of every business manager to grow, I had to make a strategic decision either to keep the exact same concept of the Jewish Yellow Pages and execute it in other geographic areas, which is still a plan. But I saw a better opportunity using my infrastructure here to challenge the monopoly of Verizon."

While Ran is trying to expand beyond the ethnic market niche into the mainstream Yellow Pages business, some of the larger directory publishers are moving in the opposite direction, seeking to increase their presence in ethnic communities.

Heidi Jaquish, a spokesperson for Verizon Information Services, said the company issues more than 50 bilingual Spanish-English Yellow Pages directories nationwide and is looking to expand deeper into the Spanish- and Chinese-language markets in particular.

"We have had bilingual directories for several years, and over the last couple of years our focus on this market has definitely grown," she said. "We see this as an area with a lot of potential."

Mjeku, from Albania, says he doesn't worry that the bigger publishers might cut into his particular market, which he knows his way around instinctively. Rather, he fears most of all the assimilation of his people.

"If they become Americans, there will be no need for the Albanian Yellow Pages . You will reach them as Americans through Verizon," he said.