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Profiles In Business Excellence: Good 2 Go
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Natural, Organic, and Local Products Now Convenient
Here’s the scenario. You’re on your way home. You stop by the convenient store. Have everything you need?
Snacks, milk, bread, drink, gas...Great. Now, how about organic snacks, Hillside milk, fresh local bakery bread, and ethanol-free gas?
Now that there’s Good2Go, you’re good to go for the latter list as well.
As of September 17th, both scenarios are now being served in Mountaintop, at Good2Go, a convenience store that pairs traditional convenience shopping with healthier, green options– and the best part about it is it’s open 24/7.
“Convenient stores are all alike,” co-owner Awais Ahmad said, “They all sell Cheetos™ and Pepsi™, M&Ms™ and Kit Kat™ bars. There really hasn’t been a choice for parents who want their children and themselves to eat healthier.”
In an area that is not traditionally geared toward organic food items, Good2Go is a novel concept, but Awais feels that providing both options will inevitably catch on.
“Everything is junk food in today’s society,” he said. “It is a little risky in going 50/50 with our merchandise, but this is the best of both worlds. Ultimately, we want to have people think of this as the norm, and maybe it will catch on with other stores in different towns. We’re not trying to tell them what they have to eat, but rather we are giving them a choice.”
Awais and partner V.J. George are the present owners of the Uni-Mart in Pittston.
“Ideally, I would love to see the same concept work in Pittston, but we have some details to work through first,” Awais said.
The concept of combining traditional food with healthier alternatives is something that Awais had been thinking about for a long time. When he and his wife moved to the Wyoming Valley from Philadelphia with their children, the couple realized that there was a very limited availability of natural and organic food items.
“In Philadelphia, we lived near stores that sold natural and organic merchandise,” he explained. “We never had issues in terms of finding healthier foods. When we had our children, we didn’t want them to eat heavily processed foods from traditional grocery stores. When we moved to Kingston 2 1/2 years ago, we realized that there really was no choice. Price Chopper, Thomas, and Wegmans offer a minimal selection of merchandise at best.”
In addition to healthier snack items and such, Good2Go will also feature products from local farms and bakeries, such as The Lands at Hillside Farms and Boulevard Bakery.
“We will carry Hillside Farms milk, ice cream and butter,” Awais said. “We use their products for our kids and don’t think that there are any better dairy items around. We are very fortunate that they agreed to let us sell their products. In Pittston, the milk flies off our shelves. I think that the folks in Mountaintop will love the convenience of having it so close to home. We will also carry a selection of breads and rolls from Boulevard Bakery, in Wilkes-Barre and danishes and pastries from Bakery Delight, in Plains.”
In addition, Good2Go will also carry eggs and other products from Natural Acres; and its owners will continue to look for other local vendors to join them.
Good2Go will also offer gasoline that does not contain ethanol.
“To produce ethanol, hydrocarbons are produced, which kind of defeats the purpose,” Awais said. “They have to use food products like corn and sugar cane, and quantities of these products are taken out of the market, which drives up the price of corn and other foods. I don’t want to contribute to that unless we are mandated to do so.”
So, if you find yourself driving through Mountaintop, stop by Good2Go. Following my interview with Awais, he asked if there was anything else I needed to know. I said, “Nope, I’m good to go,” not realizing the obvious play on the name.
“That happens often around here,” he said.