With 300 traditional convenience stores operating throughout New England, Global Partners knows the industry. After all, the family-run company has been around since the 1930s supplying fuel and operating stores.
But CEO Eric Slifka—grandson of the founder—isn’t one to ride on the coattails of his family legacy. “I’m a very demanding consumer. Given that bias, I wanted to [design a store] that was personally interesting to me, but also different in the convenience store industry,” he said.
To that end, Slifka followed his own dream to open a convenience store that focused on organic, natural, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and locally sourced products. “I think the marketplace is craving this concept,” he said of Global Partners' newly opened Alltown Fresh in Plymouth, Massachusetts. “We have a big emphasis on making sure many of our products are local and made with the cleanest ingredients.”
Clean Food
For Slifka, Alltown Fresh starts with prepared foods. “We offer healthy, fresh to-go food choices and made-to-order meals,” he said. The menu includes Green Smash Avocado Toast, protein bowls like Korean Kim Chi and Mango Tango, and Fresh Pilgrim (turkey) and Veggie Palooza sandwiches.
The store’s design includes an open grill so that customers can see their food being prepared. “When you see how fresh the ingredients are in your avocado-and-egg toast, you have more confidence in its quality,” he pointed out.
Beverages also have clean ingredients, such as the on-tap kombucha from Aqua ViTea and on-tap Maine Root Beverages. The beer section has local beers, regional beers and domestic/international beers grouped into sections.
Alltown Fresh serves coffee in a “bean-to-cup” Swiss-made coffee machine that presses the beans instantly for a very fresh cup of coffee. “You can’t get coffee any fresher than ours, especially as we use locally roasted coffee beans in the bean-to-cup machines,” said Slifka. “We work hard to deliver a consistently good cup of coffee.”
The machine also eliminates waste, as the store never has to toss pots of unused coffee at the end of a shift. In addition, Alltown Fresh makes handmade specialty coffee, such as lattes, espressos and macchiatos, as well as nitro and cold brewed coffee.
You have to stick to what you believe and try to make the best store you can make.
Clean Design
The company carried its “clean” theme into the store design too. The entryway of the 4,800-square-foot store helps customers “decompress as they walk into our store,” Slifka said. “We incorporated a pinwheel design to allow them to see everything in the store without blocking the sight lines with long aisles or tall barriers.”
Immediately to the right of the front doors stands the coffee options, which front the open kitchen and touchscreen ordering kiosks. The overall feel of the store echoes a farm stand, with indoor and outdoor seating and warm woods and colors. A handwritten menu board carries the theme into the foodservice section. “We wanted to create a community for locals and visitors to enjoy while at our store,” he said.
Outside, 12 fueling islands offer gasoline pumps in the front, while out back, truckers can fill up with diesel. Alltown Fresh partnered with Electrify America to install four charging stations. “With these fuel options, we’ve set up a store that offers an entirely different experience than what’s in our area,” Slifka said.
The company also highlights local products by giving space to local businesses for giveaways or tastings. “We’re starting this on a quarterly basis to give small local businesses a chance to connect to the community in our store,” he said, adding that many times, the companies will have products for sale on Alltown Fresh’s shelves.
Slifka sees social and digital media as essential to the store’s success. “While we have some traditional convenience store items as well, what we really want is to reach young families and millennials with our message of clean ingredients and healthy products,” he said. “And social media is where we can meet those people.”
Leaving Clean
Global Partners already has plans to open five more Alltown Fresh locations over the next 12 months. “We hope our customers experience the unexpected when they visit Alltown Fresh,” Slifka said. “We view the store as a convenience marketplace and restaurant combined, one that gives our customers the best sandwich or meal they’ve ever had.”
For Slifka, the nearly two-year journey from idea to store opening was as much a personal journey as a company one. “You have to stick to what you believe and literally try to make the best store you can make,” he said. “It’s our hope to inspire the community to take advantage of locally sourced products and provide a menu that goes beyond what Alltown has ever offered before.”
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