Profile Draft

A clump of bicycles is parked on the sidewalk along the side of the building, and the smell of cigarette smoke drifts past. The sign above the door states “Polar Pops, Any Size, 59 cents, Every Day!” At the top of the building is a bright red “K” sign, denoting the building as a Circle K convenience store, but many that frequent the store know it as Dairy Mart.

A grandfatherly old man enters, and is greeted by a smiling “here comes trouble!” from the cashier. He chuckles and steps to the counter to buy lottery tickets, jokingly looking over his shoulder to see whom she might have been referring to.

Behind the man, the line snakes past a cooler of sandwiches, a shelf of snickers bars, and a display of cheap jewelry. College students holding gallons of milk or six-packs of beer, businessmen stopping for a pack of cigarettes, and mothers and children stopping by for a snack on the way home from school, and men who ride up on bikes to buy a bottle of beer concealed in a paper bag; this convenience store attracts people from all walks of life.

Located at the corner of Lovell and Oakland streets, not far from downtown Kalamazoo, Dairy Mart sees a wide variety of customers each day. Stocking everything from Red Bull to eggs, and frozen pizzas to WD-40, the store generally has whatever someone could possibly want at the moment. An ATM stands by the front window, adding yet another reasons for customers to come inside.

Just down the street from Kalamazoo College and around the corner from Western Michigan University, a large amount of Dairy Mart’s business comes from college students in search of junk food or alcohol. On weekend afternoons, many students flock in, standing in line with thirty-packs of beer and bags of chips, stocking up for the evening ahead.

Others stop by on their way to work for a cup of coffee, at lunchtime to buy a soda, or for a beer on their way home. Many simply stop for directions, pulling into the parking lot with a confused look on their face and consulting a map before heading inside to ask for help.

When walking past the store, it is not uncommon to see cars pulled into the parking lot to use the pay phone located there. Until the recent change in state smoking laws, customers would often stand on the sidewalk smoking next the ice freezer, but the smokers have now been relegated to around the corner of the store beside towering stacks of colorful milk crates.