Local entrepreneurs find a niche in neighborhood stores
Once upon a time people could run to the corner store and
purchase a few items without trekking to the closest
mega-market.
There are still remnants of the corner store in San Benito
County. One of those is Village Market.
Local entrepreneurs find a niche in neighborhood stores
Once upon a time people could run to the corner store and purchase a few items without trekking to the closest mega-market.
There are still remnants of the corner store in San Benito County. One of those is Village Market.
Owners Lazaro and Irma Olivares have owned the Village Market for one year this March and have taken significant steps to ensure that it has everything one would want from a corner store.
The market has been a fixture on Hillcrest Road at the eastern edge of Hollister for years. Over time, Hollister has grown around the once-rural store, and it’s now the only retail center near hundreds of homes.
The modest store packs a tremendous amount of merchandise in its modest square footage. Bouquets of fresh flowers decorate the entry. The store is perfumed with the heady aroma of hot tamales. A modest selection of produce is available.
“A lot of people come in and they don’t realize we have the selection we do,” Lazaro Olivares said. “They’ll stop in for one item and leave with more than they came for.”
Unlike other convenience stores, which offer a smattering of drinks, packaged junk food and such, the Olivareses have added a new stock of items to their store.
When the Olivareses purchased the store last year they installed new shelves and coolers. Since then they have gradually expanded the store to include a fresh produce cooler and a bakery display that is updated daily with fresh locally baked goods.
“We try to stay local as much as we can with the products we stock,” Olivares said.
This is the second store that the Olivares have purchased; their first is in Watsonville, but once they heard Village Market was for sale they were immediately interested.
Owning a small business, especially a market can be a lot of work; but the Olivareses have been very fortunate in finding quality staff to help them operate their stores. Still, they estimated that they divide their time pretty evenly between two stores. How many hours do the owners put in at each store?
One of the benefits of having a small store is that the Olivares can listen to their customers’ suggestions and stock the products they want. For example, the bakery section of the store only stocked Danishes and muffins, but customers asked for more so Olivares added croissants and Mexican pastries.
Olivares is also in the process of adding a butcher case where he plans to stock marinated meats.
“We’re not the typical store that people are expecting when they first come in,” Olivares said. “We’re a convenience store and our customers want convenience.”
Village Market is located at 1331 Hillcrest Road in Hollister. Their phone number is 637-8321.
Patrick O’Donnell can be reached at
po*******@pi**********.com
.
