Business Woman Makes Vacant Corner Mart Jump Back To Life

The brick storefront at Jefferson Avenue and Chestnut Street in Bristol Borough stood empty for 10 years. Then it caught the eye of Bristol Township resident Hakiema Muhammed, who looked beyond neglect and dust to envision a corner grocery store.

“I’m from Philadelphia, where you can always find a corner store. In my neighborhood in Levittown, we don’t have that. I walked into this building and I thought, ‘perfect,’” Muhammed said.

On a recent morning, Muhammed hustled around through the aisles, looking at inventory, scanning checklists, discussing orders with a delivery man, and helping to hang a sign with the store’s name, The Brick House Mini-Mart.

Shelves were stocked with canned goods, snacks, sugar, cleaning materials and other goods. There are lunch meats and cheeses in a refrigerated case. One refrigeration unit is filled with ice cream, another stands empty, awaiting a delivery. Fast food? No problem, Muhammed said.

“We will have hot and, in the summertime, iced coffee; potato and tuna salad, cheese steaks, chicken patties, fish sandwiches, and hot dogs,” she said, adding that those hot sandwiches can go “Italian.”  That means French Fries pressed into the rolls with the meats, all prepared by her newly hired cook Mike McCausland, who used to work at the now-closed Dairy Deli in Bristol.

Muhammed’s dual dream of an investment property/grocery store took two years to be realized. Just getting to settlement took a year, and another year saw Muhammed’s family, including her husband, Al-Tarik; in-laws; friends; and various contractors rehabilitating the building.

All this, while Hakiema Muhammed holds down a full-time job with killer hours. She’s a train conductor for New Jersey Transit, up at 3 a.m. to get the 5:09 a.m. train to New York for her early shift.

“It’s been a challenge, but worth it,” she said.