PHOTO GALLERY: Inside Enmarket’s New Hometown Store
SAVANNAH, Ga. — A downtown historic district with a rich transportation-related history serves as the site for a new one-of-a-kind Enmarket convenience store in the company’s hometown of Savannah.
The newly rebuilt and expanded Enmarket store was previously a small kiosk with a pay-only window. However, with healthy fuel volume sales and pedestrian foot traffic, Enmarket had metrics that supported the idea of investing in a full-size convenience store on the site.
The new 3,522-square-foot location features a one-of-a-kind design that draws from the surrounding historic district and the site’s transportation-related history, given its proximity adjacent to the Central of Georgia Railway and Georgia State Railroad Museum. Additionally, the store is accessible to trolleys and other vehicles critical to Savannah’s downtown tourism industry, according to the retailer.
“We are thrilled to unveil this beautiful new store in the historic district. The design and concept reflect the direction we are taking in the community which is to provide a more modern, customer-friendly store with a dual focus on pedestrian and automobile traffic,” said Enmarket President Brett Giesick. “This is a one-of-a-kind location for Enmarket. A diverse customer base of downtown residents, commuters, local businesses, [Savannah College of Art and Design] students and faculty, and tourists were all carefully considered when we selected this store design and the products and services that this location offers.”
To create this new store design, Enmarket tapped Fort Worth, Texas-based design firm Paragon Solutions to design the building and Gunn Meyerhoff Shay, a local Savannah firm, as architect.
Located at 405 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd., the new building showcases a masonry exterior with simple, yet elegant detail as a nod to the remaining industrial-era transportation buildings in the area. One of the most unique and unifying elements is a community-themed mural that occupies almost the entire façade of the building, painted by local artist Alexandria Hall.
Inside, the newly renovated Enmarket store features the Eatery, the chain’s proprietary kitchen concept, which serves up antibiotic-free, never-frozen chicken, fried fish, and a host of daily specials and sides in the afternoon. During the breakfast daypart, fresh pastries, grab-and-go biscuit and croissant sandwiches made in-house, and full plated breakfasts are available to customers.
The store also offers a full complement of dispensed beverages, bean-to-cup coffee, “Chillen” frozen drinks, fresh brewed tea and other non-carbonated beverage offerings, and cold brew coffee.
Previously, this store did not offer foodservice or dispensed beverages, and stocked very little beer. Snacks and bottled drinks were also limited, as well as general merchandise.
Other amenities and services featured at the new Savannah store are:
- An outdoor dining patio;
- Green space;
- A bike service area;
- Local craft beer; and
- Expanded availability of diesel to all dispensers, in addition to non-ethanol fuel.
“The store was designed uniquely for this site. We had limitations due to the size and layout of the site, and other restrictions that come with a location in historic downtown Savannah,” shared Enmarket Vice President of Marketing Matt Clements. “We learned that we can maintain all of our traditional retail programs and still have ample room for foodservice in a relatively compressed space, so this gives us an option to use in the future on similarly challenged sites.”
Enmarket, which was rebranded from Enmark in 2015, was founded in Savannah in 1963 and the city has always been the location of the company’s headquarters.
“We have a great relationship and heritage with the city and we take special pride in our locations here,” Clements said. “Savannah will always be a priority market for us and we have plans to increase our store count there over the next year."
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