A once run-down convenience store is transforming into a new hangout and healthy food haven for students.
Jim Nguyen and Tim O’Connell have wanted to open a business together since fifth grade, and have finally done so last month, with the opening of the Old Southeast Market
For years, Tim O’Connell and Jim Nguyen – friends since the fifth grade – had talked about opening a business together.
Now they’ve done it.
Their Old Southeast Market, which opened last month at 1700 Third St. S just south of the university campus, is part convenience store and part neighborhood market.
Its owners hope it will become a student hangout, too.
“I’ve always had a dream of having my own store and doing our own thing, doing something different,” said O’Connell, 37.
He and Nguyen, 37, found opportunity in a building that for years housed a shabby convenience store on the fringe of the city’s Old Southeast neighborhood.
To get to the market via Third Street, students will pass over Salt Creek on a little bridge long known as “Thrill Hill” – so named because it gives motorists a brief rollercoaster sensation.
While the new shop offers corner store traditionals like wine, beer and lottery tickets– it also serves as a fresh neighborhood market, an up-and-coming musician’s coffee shop venue, and a student study spot – all rolled into 1000 square feet.
The student appeal isn’t hard to figure out. Offerings include hot and cold brewed coffee from Tampa’s Buddy Brew Coffee, dozens of neighborhood vendor products, free Wi-Fi and a variety of local craft beers. The installation of three bike racks and a patio are expected to be completed within a few weeks.
In this light, the term convenience seems pretty spot on, something O’Connell and Nguyen were aiming for.
Old Southeast Market’s permanent location serves those who can’t always shop at the local market, or those who can’t afford to sell their goods at one either.
“Most of our vendors are from the Saturday Morning Market,” O’Connell said. “They can’t afford to just go set up booths, and that’s what we’re here for. They appreciate us and we appreciate them.”
One of these vendors is Bob Devin Jones, owner of Bob’s Cookies and co-founder of The Studio@620. Jones travels to the store every morning to deliver his home-baked cookies and plans to start holding regular poetry readings there as well.
The convenience store caters to St. Petersburg’s local economy, supplying a variety of products from wine and beer to handmade soaps and candles.
Other local products you can find at the market include beverages from Mother Kombucha -which will be kegged and served in growlers soon- body care and organic soaps from Bodhi Basics, and homegrown succulents and cacti from O’Berry’s Succulents (dinosaur succulents are all the rage right now, by the way).
Canned pickles, jams and mustards from Urban Canning Company, owned and operated by St. Petersburg native Illene Sofranko, are also featured at the store.
The company’s “Surrealist IPA Pickles,” made in collaboration with Green Bench Brewing, are one of the best sellers on the shelf.
“It’s small business helping small business,” O’Connell said. “That’s really what our theme is and that’s why we team up with local vendors – small market people like us, and we all take care of each other, in a sense.”
But it wouldn’t be complete without local music.
“We’re going to have local musicians once a week doing an acoustic set,” said O’Connell.
There’s no shortage of musicians in the area either.
“Old Southeast is an eclectic neighborhood – it’s full of musicians,” he said. “People want to be involved.”
Quick, unhealthy food options are easy to find, but Old Southeast Market gives students the opportunity to grab a close, on-the-go healthy alternative.
According to Nguyen, there will be plenty to choose from.
“There’s some gluten free, some organic and some of the standard household names, too.”
A little bit of everything.
Old Southeast Market is offering students 25% off coffee through the end of October and 10% off grocery items,excluding alcohol and cigarettes, going forward. They are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mon-Sat and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sun.
