Bisratt “Bis” Tewodros, manager and co-owner of One Stop Shop, mans the counter as he waits for customers.
It’s any entrepreneur’s dream for a friendship to become a business relationship, so opening up a convenience store in a college town was a great opportunity for the founders of the nearly five-month-old One Stop Shop.
Located on College Avenue, directly off Route 1, the convenience store is owned and operated by three childhood and college friends from northern Virginia. The manager, Bissrat Tewodros, 27, graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University, and co-founder Rhoheen Mehra, 25, attended Virginia Tech. Both graduated with business-related degrees, Tewodros said, while the third founder, Seth Sach, 25, did not attend college. Mehra and Tewodros met through their multicultural fraternity, Sigma Beta Rho.
The former College Park Convenience Store is what drew the friends-turned-business-partners to the city. Sach worked in wholesale retail, providing services to the owner of the now-defunct convenience store. When the owner closed her store to retire more than a year ago, Sach and his friends saw a need in the university community.
“There’s a college demand [for convenience stores],” Tewodros said. “An opportunity presented itself, and we seized the moment.”
As recent college graduates, the friends feel especially connected to their patrons.
“We understand the needs of college students,” Tewodros said. “Our aim is to be as personable as possible.”
One Stop Shop sells typical convenience store items, such as cold drinks, candy, gum, chips and some school supplies. The store also sells cereal and other items less likely to be found in the average convenience store yet more necessary for most college students, Tewodros said.
However, Sach said the store works to emphasize its wide selection of hookah supplies and other tobacco products. The store’s Twitter account, @1StopUMD, advertises a free hookah and starter kit giveaway. The store is also offering 10 percent off nontobacco products, and
employees are distributing coupons on and around the campus. Tewodros said the owners aim to offer similar deals regularly. However, he said, they hope customers will come for the discounts and return for the customer service.
They aim to set themselves apart from local competitors such as 7-Eleven, CVS and Café Hookah through their personalities and prices, selling cheaper cigarettes, for example. Popular cigarette brands are roughly $1 to $2 cheaper at One Stop Shop than at 7-Eleven.
“It’s going to be stiff competition,” Tewodros said.
They also want to set themselves apart from competing convenience stores through the store’s appearance.
“We came in here [and] gave it more flair,“ Sach said.
The walls inside the store are lined with T-shirts and hookah supplies. Across the few aisles, the refrigerators hold a selection of drinks near various candies and knick-knacks. The trio decided on the store’s inventory based on customer requests when the store first opened.
Another strength of the store, according to the founders, is its proximity to Fraternity Row. As alumni of Sigma Beta Rho, Tewodros and Mehra feel a connection to students in fraternities and sororities. They hope to be especially close with the Greek community, Sach said, helping with philanthropy initiatives and other events.
They also hope to be able to connect with the college-town community through service and other forms of aid. The store operators work closely with the DC Central Kitchen — a community food-recovery network — delivering leftover goods from the One Stop Shop and other Route 1 establishments such as Bagel Place.
“It not only gives back, but it gets our name out there,” Tewodros said. “We just want to help somebody.”
One Stop Shop saw a good amount of business from students when it opened in March, Tewodros said, and while the store has seen less success in the summer, “everything takes a little time.”
The store is open until midnight on weeknights and 3 a.m. on weekends, Tewodros said. While it’s difficult to compete with nearby stores that are open 24 hours, Tewodros said the trio still has high hopes for its future.
“It’s a challenge, but we’re motivated by our day-to-day customers,” he said. “I need every customer that comes in.”
