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Store owners and their family members gather together alongside Cordell Chamber of Commerce members as the chamber presents Cordell Plaza with their first dollar during the grand opening event. PHOTO BY HECTOR LUCAS
On Tuesday, June 22nd, Cordell’s new convenience store and gas station had its grand opening event.
Owners, workers, Cordell Chamber of Commerce members, family members of the owner, and curious residents all gathered together during the grand opening event in which food was offered to those who attended.
What was once the location of the iconic Erv’s Quik-Serv has now been revitalized into the Cordell Plaza by owner Abubakar Ahmed.
Ahmed, who goes by Ali, is originally from New York but is attending law school at Oklahoma University, and he has opened three other gas stations.
So why gas stations?
“It’s like a hobby. You know, I could flip houses, I could do other things, but this gas station business, I like it. I have fun in it,” Ahmed said.
As for why Ahmed chose to open up a new convenience store here in Cordell, he said he sees a lot of potential in opening a business in small towns.
“Country people are great. Townspeople are great. It’s a small community, and everyone knows everyone, which makes it so much easier. Plus it’s beneficial for the community in the town,” he said.
With his fondness of a small-town community, Ahmed said he is not planning on competing with the other convenience stores in town but rather work alongside them.
“I wish the best for the other [convenience stores], you know? If they need our help in any way, vendors, anyway. If they run out of a product we’re more than welcome to provide them with a product. Me, I’m not here to compete with anyone,” Ahmed said.
As for the specialties of the store, Ahmed has a secret to one of the previous best-selling items that he plans to include at his Cordell location.
“We’re introducing, it’s like a chicken sandwich. It’s a sandwich with one of our secret sauces that we put in,” Ahmed said. “At my other locations, they sell like crazy! And I’m just looking forward to seeing the people’s faces when they try this sandwich.”
While the Plaza does have items that help it stand out, Ahmed agreed it may not have it all and offered an easy solution for that.
“If I don’t have a product that [another convenience store does], I will for sure say, ‘Go down that way. There’s a Phillips 66 with a subway built into it. They’ll have the product that you need,’” Ahmed said. “If they don’t have a product that we have, I’d expect them to send people down here. It’s all community-wise.”
Ahmed said that the Plaza will have all kinds of daily needs items such as groceries, ready-to-eat food such as Dough Boyz Pizza, gas, and alcoholic beverages, and he plans to have it available at all times.
“This is you all’s store, so we’re ready for requests,” Ahmed said. “Y’all want anything extra, you guys want for example, like it’s a beverage we’re missing that you all request. We will go out of our way to try to get it in our store. So request and it will be done.”
The Cordell Plaza will be open all week from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Monday through Thursday, 5 a.m to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sundays.
