My name is Alen Babana and I was born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1985. I lived there with my father Sargon, my mother Margaret, and my sister Lara until I was 5 years old at which time the whole family decided to move to the USA. We were living fairly well with a good income due to the country's good economy despite the 8-year war against Iran, but after that, it was just a question of time before something bigger happened. There was so much political uncertainty in the region in 1990, and as it happened, just 2 weeks after we had left Iraq, Saddam Hussein declared war on Kuwait so our timing was perfect.
The only bit of good news at this time was that financially, the markets were in our favour as $3.5 US Dollars was equal to 1 Iraqi Dinar so at least, we left Iraq with some good money to invest in a business.
It was not possible to travel directly to the USA from Iraq without all the necessary visas and other documentation so we decided to stop in Spain on a temporary basis as we were in for a long wait, and we never left!
We arrived in Madrid in 1990 and set up our first business. This was the first in a series of shops that we opened in Spain. Our first shop was actually a gift shop that also sold a wide range of stationery. The shop was successful, and we ran it for 3 years before realising we actually wanted to be in a more coastal area so decided to sell up and move. By this time all thoughts of moving to the USA had disappeared, we all loved Spain and wanted to stay.
Our next move was to Los Alcázares in 1994 which is in the Murcia region where we opened another similar shop called the "Bazar Mar Menor" which was located in the Oasis development just by the junction of the AP7. This business was again successful but after 3 years there, we decided to try another location, this time Benidorm!
The Benidorm shop was much more of a gift shop and again, it was successful but there was fierce competition so we decided to look around again for another location. It was during this time that we discovered quite by accident that the building developer "Grupo Masa" had started another development with similar properties to those in The Oasis urbanisation in Los Alcázares. This new development was a few kilometres from the Spanish working town of Mazarrón known as Camposol.
We loved the location and quickly decided Camposol was for us, and in April 2000, we opened a small supermarket on sector A which today is called "Alen's Shop". We are a small, hardworking family that offers a big selection of British Food, National and Euro millions lottery, newspapers, fresh bread and household goods. We try to offer a unique service and are open 7 days a week from 8am until 3pm. We also work around family "shifts" to maximise our opening hours. In 2024 we obtained the "ex" Dragon Tours commercial unit next door, doubling the space of the supermarket and increasing the range of products enormously.
On a more personal note, there are a few things that I would like to share although many of you will already know me well. My official language is "Aramaic" which is from the Assyrian people who originally populated the area known today as Iraq 4 millennia before Christ until the rise of Islam in the 7th century AD.
I also am fluent in Spanish, English and Arabic.
I am a devout Christian. I am a person who loves absolutely every person as we are all made in the image of God and I try to put in practice all the teachings of Jesus Christ about love towards the neighbour and even towards the enemy. I believe that no human has the objective morality to judge another human, and that God is the ultimate Judge who will put each one of us in their place at the time of His second coming. One of my biggest passions is astronomy. The universe fascinates me so much.
In the music I am a big fan of Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd and The Eagles. I love spicy food. In my spare time I am the drummer with 2 popular local bands, The Quality Street Band, and Badlands.
“It was simply love at first sight. I knew she was the lady for me.”
In 2016 whilst in Milan for a wedding I met my beautiful wife, Simona. It was simply love at first sight. I knew she was the lady for me. Simona is Italian but with "Coptic Egyptian" parents. We were married in April 2018 and were delighted to announce the birth of our first child Ivan, who arrived on 6th February 2019. Ivan has since been joined by his sister Clara and the very recently born brother Samuel.
I look forward to seeing you all in the shop and out and about on Camposol.
Saludos! Alen