Smiling About Downtown’s Future: Chuck Simmons opened A&H Olympic Service at the corner of Alameda Street and Olympic Boulevard in 1967 and has seen the area around the shop change. He now plans to replace auto-repair services with a convenience store intended to serve the growing numbers of relatively upscale residents in the Arts District and other parts of Downtown.
A&H Olympic Service at Alameda Street and Olympic Boulevard is expected to soon undergo renovations that will bring a 4,000 square foot convenience store to the location in the Produce District sometime next year.
The convenience store will feature various foods, beverages, and general merchandise, and longtime owner Chuck Simmons hopes to obtain a license to sell beer and wine.
The location will also remain a gas station affiliated with ConocoPhillips 76, but will eliminate its auto repair and maintenance services. The convenience store is expected to be built in space currently occupied by service bays.
Simmons said he decided to make the switch to a convenience store after doing some research of his existing customer base. Several retail chains have also taken note of increases in Downtown’s residential population amid the relatively upscale redevelopment of the last few years, with the 7/11 and Famima chain entering the marketplace with various locations in recent months.
Most of the newcomers have focused on the western half of Downtown, though, beyond the traditional retail draw area when it comes to attracting customers from the Produce District and Arts District, which sit on the eastern flank of the city’s center.
The eastern flank of Downtown has seen a significant share of the residential redevelopment, though, and Simmons said that the trend has brought increasing numbers of customers who want a retail store with a wide range of goods available in the area.
“This area has changed a lot,” Simmons said. “I’m very excited about this change.”
It’s the second major change that Simmons and his A&H shop have helped along in the area around Olympic and Alameda. The first came 40 years ago (see related Dot Dot Dish item, “41 Years and a Day,” page 2) when the shop opened as the first gas and service station affiliated with a major brand.
Simmons said A&H helped provide a boost to the area back in the 1960s and 1970s, and that he expects the convenience store to do the same when it opens next year.
The Downtown veteran conceded that the current economic climate and troubled real estate market might have put the latest round of Downtown residential redevelopment on hold for awhile, but added that he views the chill as a temporary cycle that will eventually be replaced by another round of growth.
“I just have so much confidence in Downtown,” Simmons said. “I know we might be in a bit of a rough patch now, but just look at the whole picture of Downtown—how can anyone be anything but confident over the long haul?”
