Quickies, Your friendly, local convenience store

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. — Bloomsburg is home to many local businesses and shops that university students have grown close to. While the Uni-Mart has taken over Lightstreet Road, a new mini-mart has found its home by Iron Street. This is where you can find Quickies Convenience Store with smiling faces walking in and out of the door.

Quickies’ location puts the shop in a fantastic position to engage with both the day and nighttime activities. It is closer to many of the town’s major bars and restaurants, off-campus student housing and a variety of other establishments.

Quickies opened around the start of the 2021 fall semester. Quickies offers a variety of snacks, beverages, hot foods, daily essentials and more. Quickies is open every day from 7 a.m. – 11 p.m. The best thing that Quickies has to offer is great customer service. This trait defines Quickies from other local businesses.

The Man Behind Quickies

Jim, the owner of this local establishment, likes to refer to it as “your friendly local convenience store.” Quickies has gained a lot of popularity among local students and townspeople. Jim proclaims his mindset of “smiles and excellent service.”

Jim is a retired law enforcement officer who has picked up this new chapter in his life by opening up Quickies. Jim explained, “Interacting with customers is a favorite of mine… This new endeavor takes me from the service of protecting people to the service of serving people in other ways. I’ve always enjoyed helping others.”

Unlike a lot of other places, Jim provides a large variety of commodities such as hot coffee (which is free on Fridays), fresh pizza, many varieties of (non-alcoholic) cold drinks, ice cream and many other convenience items. Quickies can be contacted at (570) 784-3285.

BU Student Appeal

At the moment, students account for around 75 percent of their Quickies business. He states, “BU students have always been respectful and give input to our store regarding products we sell or products we should sell.” This increases their revenue and attracts more people to shop for comparable items at a low price.

Sydney Stokes, a sophomore at Bloomsburg University, believes that “students make a large impact upon Quickies business.” She is just one of many avid Quickies-goers. She says, “I go to Quickies when I’m having a rough day and it does just the trick.”

Social Media Influence

Jim regularly communicates with his consumers through social media. He is quite active on Instagram (@quickiesconvenience) and Facebook. He will update his sites with new items that have been stocked for public display.

Most days, Jim will post a “Quickie of the Day.” He defines this as “a game of trivia and some useless knowledge with the winner receiving a free item from our store.” He will then post the winners of each question to applaud them on their award and to remind them to “Come back for a Quickie, now ya hear.”

Jim says, “Without social media, our sales would be much less. A simple post can reach hundreds, thousands and even millions of people instantly.”

Granting Greek Life a Chance

The Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, like many other Greek life organizations, will raise money through philanthropy events and fundraisers. Quickies will support these fundraisers by donating food while getting sponsored by these local communities. Many of these organizations will even hold up a Quickies sign to show their support.

Eric Jarman, a sophomore at Bloomsburg University and Treasurer of TKE, has grown a strong bond with Quickies from his involvement in organizing fundraisers. Jarman currently lives off-campus within walking distance from the store and has definitely added trips to his weekly routine.

“The other convenience store in Bloomsburg, the Uni-Mart, was far away and impersonal. Quickies has made an effort to reach out to the community and be a positive role model to Bloomsburg.”

Jarman certainly agrees that Quickies has made a huge impact on Greek life. “Altruistically donating food to the organizations to benefit non-profit charities has been a great help. [Jim] has given Greek life the opportunity to allow us to have a good impact on the town. I really do thank Jim for that.” This is an important factor for these organizations since the disaffiliation from the university.

Quickies Convenience Store has made a huge, positive impact on the local Bloomsburg community. It brings people together to serve each other, just as Jim wanted to do. There is a lot of room for growth in the store. This is only the beginning for Quickies and they have already made such an outstanding impact.

Jarman jokingly added, “Having a convenience store close to my house has not been kind on my bank account, however, it has made life better.”