Where did the owners of the new Inconvenient Store on B Street come up with its name?
“There’s There are a lot of reasons really,” said co-owner Raymond Wong. “One is that it’s really inconvenient to find a job, and another is that most of the goods are imported and inconvenient to find. Our slogan is that it’s worth your while to come on in to the inconvenient store.”
The Asian snack store first opened March 13, but closed for spring break, since the store mostly targets college students. They reopened this past weekend, with the beginning of spring quarter.
UC Davis alumni and storeowners Wong and Charlie Nhan were housemates during a brief part of their time at UC Davis. Nhan studied Asian American studies and economics, while Wong was a psychology major. After graduating, they found themselves uncertain about what to do with their lives.
“We were your unambitious students that lived midterm to midterm,” Nhan said. “Planning next quarter’s classes was pretty much as far as we foresaw. That goes to show that you don’t have to have your future all planned for good things to happen!”
The two came up with the idea about a year and a half ago while eating ph? down the street from their current store. They chose the location not only because it fit into their budget, but also because of its proximity to campus.
Since Nhan graduated very close to when the idea first formed, he started the paperwork and began the research involved.
They secured funding in December 2009. When Wong graduated last June, their idea became more tangible.
“We actually had a totally different idea a year ago, which involved cooked foods, but this plan will have to wait for later on,” Wong said. “It’s a difficult process to pass food regulations for warm food. It’s a lot easier right now to maintain the store with the products we have.”
Wong and Nhan said the store is good for students with a lack of options for food shopping, especially at night. They also noticed there were not a lot of Asian snack stores in Davis. Wong said he found it flattering when one customer described the store experience as feeling like going into a giant vending machine.
Products come from distributersdistributors in San Francisco and Sacramento, but are imported.
“The first three days we were open were crazy,” Wong said. “The shelves emptied fast and I had to drive up to Sacramento to get more food. We were concerned we might have to close at that point.”
“There have been some rumors that some of our products from Japan may not be brought into the country because of the earthquake,” Wong said. “We are a little worried, but still waiting to hear about that.”
The 140 B Street St. location is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to midnight and Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. to midnight.
ANGELA SWARTZ can be reached at city@theaggie.org.
