Street Corner Opens Two Urban Superette Stores
TOPEKA, Kan. — Street Corner is bringing two "urban superette"-style convenience stores to the California market.
Boasting 2,000 square feet, the first Street Corner, located at 1272 The Strand in Hermosa Beach, is situated in the building formerly occupied by the iconic "Poop" Deck Bar. The site features a full-service Rare Earth Coffee bar with baristas, and come March, the outdoor patio will offer wine, spirits and beer on tap. That area will carry on the tradition of The Deck, which shuttered in the summer of 2021 after a 65-year run, according to the convenience retailer.
The second Street Corner, located 27651 Lincoln Place, Suite 140 in Santa Clarita, offers self-serve coffee, beer, wine and liquor, as well as a wide selection of groceries. The 1,953-square-foot c-store is located in the Vista Canyon mixed-use office, retail and residential complex in Santa Clarita, along the Santa Clara River.
"We're very excited to open up in such a vibrant area as The Strand," said Yaron Barami, store owner of the new Hermosa Beach Street Corner. "There's always something happening here, people are always having fun, and we look forward to not just catering to their needs, but giving them a quality experience every time they stop in, whether it's for sunscreen, a sandwich, locally brewed coffee or a glass of burgundy while watching the sunset."
Barami, from Orange County, Calif., owns another Street Corner location at Pierside South Apartments in Oceanside.
Both the Hermosa Beach and Santa Clarita Street Corner stores offer a variety of sundry items along with high-quality premade food items, including salads, sandwiches, wraps, diced fruit and soup.
"We are hoping to become an integral part of the Vista Canyon community, a go-to for residents, office employees and visitors alike who need the provisions to get through the day, or for their fill-in grocery needs," said Harinath Pottam, store owner of the new Santa Clarita Street Corner.
With the addition of the Hermosa Beach and Santa Clarita urban superette stores, Street Corner brings the number of c-stores in The Golden State to 10, overtaking New Jersey as the chain's most franchised state.
Street Corner is aggressively growing to meet the needs of today's urban, digital communities. Agreements for 25 new locations were signed and are slated to open between 2022 and the summer of 2023, as Convenience Store News previously reported.
A flagship Street Corner urban market store is slated to open this month in Tempe, Ariz., where the "first car-free neighborhood built from scratch" in the United States is underway. This neighborhood will feature Street Corner's largest store to date: 5,000 square feet vs. the chain's previous maximum store size of 3,700 square feet.
Topeka-based Street Corner has 47 franchisee-owned stores in 19 states. The chain offers three store formats for franchising: Express Stores for shopping centers and campuses, Urban Markets for underserved metro communities, and Urban Market Fuel Stations.
Seventy-three percent of Street Corner stores are minority-owned.