The new convenience store, or “Convenient Store” as it says in the window, is now open on Second Street across from the Peabody, in the old Carabella gift shop location. Yesterday was its first day of business.
I went in and checked it out. The owner was very nice and told me that they would be open until 1 on the weekends. The inventory was a little bare-bones, but he says he has a lot more stuff coming in. I was pleased to see that there were not any 40s or tall-boy cans of beer in the coolers, which means the bums won’t have any incentive to hang out in front of Big Foot, the Flying Fish, and other nearby restaurants. They did have 20-ounce Mountain Dew in the coolers, which is the main thing I care about. Guess this’ll give people who hang out at the Saucer, McGuinness, and nearby bars a place to buy cigarettes without having to pay inflated bar prices.
Oh… speaking of the Saucer and cigs… I was in there last night and talked to one of the bartenders. I asked her if the current smoking policy (no smoking in the indoor room til 8 PM) would continue after October 1. She said no, after October 1 there will be no smoking in the indoor room, anytime. AWESOME!!!!!
Every Tuesday night trivia starts at 7 there, and for the past few weeks I’ve had to listen to a relatively new team member whine, “Is it 8 yet? Is it 8 yet? (Looks at the clock) 7:44. 16 more minutes!” At 7:59 as they set the first ashtray down at the bar, he runs over and grabs it and lights up. I tend to roll my eyes when he does this. “You’ve had all day!” he replies. “It’s MY TIME now!” and proceeds to fill the air with filthy, nasty smoke. Heh. It’ll only be his time for about 6 more weeks. I love it.
– In the news: More compliments for AutoZone Park. In a study of 130 ballparks, PETA ranked it number 5 of the most vegetarian-friendly.
Lots of work to do today… will probably pack up the laptop and hit some coffee shops in the Midtown area, maybe run to Target as well.