hooray! the end of the inconvenience store!

[c011een.livejournal.com]

for anyone who lives near the convenience store on the corner of highland and willow, you have probably shared my angst about the crappiness of this store.   it's never open, the shelves are mostly bare, and the owner recently started selling what i am convinced to be things from his basement, like giant piggy banks and VHS movies like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  the owner was always very nice, but seriously, what is the point of a convenience store that closes at 6pm?

i am happy to announce that the store is under new management.  i have never been so happy to see a convenience store change management.  no longer will i raise my fist and scowl at the storefront on the way home from work.

Comments

[bitvoid.livejournal.com]

Awesome!!!!! I live right by there, and was as recently as this morning lamenting what a crappy, inconvenient store that is. Happy news indeed.

[dylanesque29.livejournal.com]

That store sucks ass. Most of the stuff is stale, and the owner/manager's punk kid once laughed at me when I almost left the store without the batteries I purchased, as if a moment's absentmindedness is as funny as Will Ferrell slipping on a banana peel. I never bothered to set foot in there after that. Good fucking riddance.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

It must have gone downhill since I used to frequent it about 10 years ago. It wasn't always all that bad. But crap from the basement doesn't sound very "convenient."

Now if we can only get the yupscale White Hen in Ball Square to actually stock necessities instead of $14 bags of imported ribbon pasta...

[nungnung.livejournal.com]

I agree. I used to live right behind there years ago and was quite friendly with Holly and Dan. It always had an...odd selection, but wasn't terrible. That's kind of sad to hear. Dan once helped me rescue my cat from his roof.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Wonderful!

I wonder if I can convince them to start selling local eggs so I don't have to schlep to Dave's Fresh.

[ron_newman]

At first I thought you were talking about the QWIK MART at Highland and Cedar, a building I'd love to see demolished. Is that place even open? Never looks like it from the street.

[jenaflynn.livejournal.com]

I actually live right down the street from there, and I'm happy too that it will be changing. I just wonder how (or if) they made any money off of it? Even though it's a shorter walk to that place, I just ended up going to Store24 for everything, since it had a decent selection at least.

[vonelftinhaus.livejournal.com]

Ya it's open; it was bought in the last year or so

[ron_newman]

It sure takes up a lot of land for what it is. I assume it was once a gas station or auto repair place with a garage.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

I've seen that Qwik Mart open, although I can't really remember when and at what time of day. It seems to have rather unconventional and irregular business hours.

[smileytypepers.livejournal.com]

Yay! I too live down the street and although the owner was nice and that was the first place I ever went to right before I moved here, I wasn't really impressed with its "convienience". (I went yesterday to pick up chips, salsa and soda before a friend came and got me just before 5, and they were already closing for the night. I saw two people in there, and asked if they were open, and they shook their heads. :/)
Oh, and I concur too with the comment about White Hen; what's up with that? (Plus, I'm pretty sure one of their meatball subs made me sick. Made me miss the awesome one that's in Salem.)

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

It is indeed an ugly building. I'm not sure I'd want to enter a convenience store that looks like a bunker.

[derekp.livejournal.com]

I used to live around the corner. Went in there once and saw the person behind the counter visibly nervous. Turns ut, he had been robbed about 5 minutes prior and the cops were on their way.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Per that White Hen, I think they're inaccurately second-guessing the consumer habits of the local residents. They think our "needs" are for fine Italian imported peperoncini and last year's giant chocolate Easter eggs that hung there until Christmas. They'll run out of milk but they'll never run out of frozen edemame. I had to beg them to stock ice-melting salt, and I consider myself lucky on the days when they have cat litter. They're a very nice family and I think they're trying their best, but a convenience store really should focus on basics, not luxuries, IMO.

[photographyjess.livejournal.com]

When I first saw it I thought the sign said "Q-Fart." I've called it that ever since.

[lac.livejournal.com]

FYI about the White Hen...apparently it's changing owners so it's quite possible that they will start to stock necessities better than they do now. Not sure what they are actually going to do with the place, possibly re-franchise, but I'm not sure.

Also...they're not taking credit/debit cards the next 2 or 3 weeks.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

You find something unappealling about a solid block with no windows? :-)

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I've wondered if it's a front for something else.

[dylanesque29.livejournal.com]

LOL, I hear that. But if I need food and don't have the patience for delivery, I know that White Hen and their $8 sandwiches that can feed a small third-world country are there for me. But seriously, I'd rather have a convenience store around the corner that consistently had a working cappuchino machine, rather than a full selection of those $4 Scandanavian chocolate bars.

[fidgetmonster.livejournal.com]

Dan was really nice. I could see the store from my house so it was super 'convenient' for me. Actually, when he took over the store it improved vastly from the previous owner/manager and I started going in there more. This makes me think there's a trend of owners unable to make the place be profitable enough to keep up stock and selection, then they run out of money, and someone else takes over.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I'm about to go get one of those big sandwiches right now. :-)

That store is full of LOLZ. I've had a lot of "What do you mean you don't have fucking shampoo?" moments in there. It sucks going in there urgently needing lightbulbs and having to settle for vegan cookies instead. What would help in the interest of convenience would be more toothpaste and less goat cheese, more baby food and less Terra Chips. And they're like the Baskin-Robbins of hummus.

But yeah, their sandwiches and pickle barrel rock. :-)

[ruxxell.livejournal.com]

i always assumed that place was a drug front.

[mmancuso.livejournal.com]

The White Hen stocking gods did pleasantly surprise me once when they carried "No Pudge Fudge." It looked very easy to add a cup of yoghurt to the powder mix and bake it. I tried it for the fun and yum of it (not so much for the low-fat of it). It really was good. I bought a few boxes of the stuff. Then after a while, they didn't carry it anymore. I've since found it elsewhere, but I wouldn't have known about it if I hadn't seen it there.

Their sandwiches are huge. Easily two meals.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Yes, I found out about that when I went over there to get lunch today! The cashier was busy so I didn't grill him for details, but I'm curious about what's happening.

[bitvoid.livejournal.com]

If you can believe it, that one is actually WAY BETTER than the one at Willow. By which I do not mean that it is good.