While DVDs have been a success at Tommy’s, Iftikhar says that he had a little more trouble moving another product off the shelves.
“I did try to bring in cell phones, but students don’t come here to buy phones,” Iftikhar says, folding his arms across his chest and shaking his head. He says that he had successfully negotiated contracts with AT&T and Tmobile, but personal health troubles prevented him from putting “100 percent effort” into sales. “Maybe I’ll try again next year, when the freshmen come in,” he says. Iftikhar says he has debated whether to introduce a fresh Indian food section into the store.
He is planning to open a restaurant in Somerville and says “once we have that going we can always sell food here.”
“It won’t be the food you get in restaurants here,” he says, explaining how conventional Indian restaurants let their food sit. “We will cook fresh every day, if people want it.” And while Iftikhar is expanding to bring in fresh items, he says he will continue to shy away from selling conventional products such as alcohol and lottery tickets.
“I don’t want to take Louie’s business,” he says, adding that he doesn’t think “children” should have access to alcohol.
Not 24/7 or 7-11
While not competing with Louie’s, Iftikhar did try to mimic the longer hours of his franchised counterparts in the square.
7-11 has long boasted 24 hour convenience—and CVS started staying open overnight this fall—but Tommy’s closes at 2 a.m. during the week and at 4 a.m. on weekends.
“We figured we could go 24 hours at the beginning of the year, and we tried it but the response was not that great,” Iftikhar says. “If you don’t get any business between the hours of 4 and 8, then it isn’t worth it.” Even CVS has admitted to having a slow response to their new 24 hour policy.
An assistant manager said that staying open hasn’t been profitable, but that the policy is set by the national franchise. After his experience owning 7-11s, Iftikhar says he does not envy the stability of a national name. “I feel very happy to make my own decisions,” he says.
“I know how the big stores operate, they just want to make money on every transaction,” he says over his cell phone, which he admits to purchasing at a Tmobile store, not Tommy’s. Iftikhar says he is driving home from New York, after a busy day of looking for the perfect juice machines for his latest venture.
“I’m not worried about 7-11 or CVS,” he says, “because we give a personalized service to our customers.”
—Staff writer Wendy D. Widman can be reached at widman@fas.harvard.edu.