The Stand
7 Styles Deli relies on community feedback to stay in business
A distinction of the 7 Styles Convenience Store and Deli at 2030 S. Salina St. is that it is believed to be the only African-American owned convenience store in Syracuse, according to Khalid Bey, the Common Council member whose Fourth District incorporates much of the South Side.
In 2013, co-owners Craig Davis, 44, and his fiancée, Cherese Torrence, are starting their 10th year together in the business.
“It has been up and down,” Davis said. “We started out with a concept, trying to put things into the community that were lacking.”
When they launched the business, in October 2003, the couple hoped to add to their income, said Davis, because at the time he was unemployed.
“We started with $6,800, borrowed from several family members. That was first and last month’s rent and the rest went to supplies. My concept of business is you have 30 days to try to develop money for the next rent month.”
The seed money proved enough for the couple to buy a stock of small items — necessities such as ketchup, hot sauce, cans of soup, and salt — that most people would not want to drive all the way to a grocery store to buy, Davis said. Now, 7 Styles carries cigarettes, beer and other drinks and snacks. “We accommodate the small needs of the community. We get the product that they need to have, without going out of the community.”
As a new business owner, Davis built up his stock by relying on customers telling him what they wanted.
“When I first got here, I had a clipboard that said, ‘Things to get: please help me with supplies.’ So a lot of people came in and wrote down things that I needed to get,” he said. Davis added that he always tries to get the community involved. Over the summer, he created a personalized grocery shopping program for customers.
“I set up a program in the summertime where we shop for you,” he said. “We take a list of items from people, and we take the chance and spend our money to buy the stuff, then bring it back to the store and box it up and retail it back to our consumer.”
Bey, who chairs the Council’s economic development committee, said, “One of the biggest challenges is determining what the demand is, and that is different in the South Side than other areas, so that he provides the right product.”
