By Penny Luck and David Jaffer
David and his brother Sulu Jaffer were enjoying breakfast in Midtown back in 2003 when they overheard fellow restaurant patrons complaining about the eyesore across the street. It was on that visit from their native California that the two discovered a new calling. They paid the bill for their meal and took a walk down the street to talk to the owner of the eyesore—a run-down market. They discovered that the owner was indeed interested in selling it to the right buyer. Three weeks later, the brothers were in the convenience store business.
Today, their market better reflects the tastes of the trendy neighborhood, boasting a walk-in wine cellar and walk-in cigar humidor, all from inside a small convenience-store footprint. Once they got over that initial shock of their dramatic 180-degree career turn, the Jaffer brothers got down to renovating the space. David says “The old market simply didn’t fit the neighborhood profile.” Not having much traditional convenience store experience, David relied on his visits to comparable spaces throughout Europe. “In Europe, c-store operators do an amazing job catering to locals by having a small store that offers liquor, pharmacy, mobile phone outlet, and a gift shop all inside a small market.
When we built the Intown Market near the Grant Part neighborhood, we wanted to blend a beer and wine hub inside a traditional store format. We then added a deli that cooks up fresh, healthy, and tasty food that is grab-and-go convenient.” The market is on the corner of DeKalb Avenue and Grant Street across from the MLK Marta Station.
What Jaffer once thought was a leap of faith—the deli—has become the company’s main force of growth in 2010. It offers Boar’s Head meats and carefully constructed gourmet sandwiches, salads and sides. It took the brothers a year to work out the kinks (food costs, employee turnover), but today, it’s a major factor behind a healthy bottom line at the downtown store, thanks in part to the area’s population boom.
As their business matured, the Jaffer brothers have really strived to become their customers’ ally. To do so, they’ve worked at fine-tuning their operation to optimize each customer’s three to four minute visit to their stores. It is their priority to keep the store clean, the coffee fresh, and continue to offer a variety of grab-and-go food items, all while keeping up that very personal service initiative. “We are a small independent store that benefits from having a symbiotic relationship with our customers without the burden of having various layers of management structures,” Jaffer says. “The flexibility allows us to get things done right the first time.”
Owners appreciate being able to operate without the ball and chain. David Jaffer claims they have greater ability to respond to the needs of their customers more quickly—and on a more personal level. “When I was growing up,” he says, “I remember how the people who worked at the local grocery store really knew their customers on a personal level. I try to get to know my customers and operate my business like the olden days.”
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