In the small town of Syracuse, Cubby’s Convenience Store provides a place with that feeling of being at home. Kim Bellinder, manager, will mark her five-year anniversary with Cubby’s in April. Taking over for her mother as manager when she retired, Kim walks the walk of treating her crew and her customers like family. When asked about her peers, Kim said, “we’re like a big family here. We will message each other outside of work and things like that,” since they all have been working together for three years or more.
Kim starts her day at around 6:00am with the sun and stays busy throughout the day. With customers coming in from around all over, the team is used to the hustle and bustle of helping each of their customers begin their mornings on a positive note. She said her customers, “come in, they get their stuff, and we try to make it a good experience for everybody to start their day.” In fact, many of their customers enjoy joking around with the Cubby’s employees as they feel it is a safe space to express themselves. “My favorite part of the job is talking with the customers and joking around with them,” Kim explained. “We have a fun customer base that we’re able to really joke with and they can joke with us.” Even the other crew members enjoy ribbing each other on occasion. Kim continued, “I have a work philosophy that you have to have fun at work. You have to get your job done but you also have to enjoy what you’re doing in order to keep coming back.”
With a dining room that remains open, Kim said, “we have our coffee group that comes in and tries to solve the world’s problems every morning. They come in and hang out with us for a while and we know most of our customers by name.” Along with many locals, truckers, and “fly by night” customers passing through, the crew at Cubby’s is always ready to handle anything.
Because Kim and her team have been so genuine and consistent with their customers, Cubby’s has named them the March Store of the Month winner! Kim said, “when I found out we won I was like ‘this is awesome!’ Sometimes we feel like we’ve been forgotten down here because we’re kind of out in the boonies, but this made us feel so special!”
The Syracuse store may be in a small town of 2,076, but they have been lauded multiple times on several platforms for their service and their food. Last month, Kim said, “our location was voted by truckers on the Trucker path app; we were in the top five for the state,” for their convenience as well as their friendly service. In addition to this, the Cubby’s Syracuse has been nominated three years in a row to have the #1 Fried Chicken in Otoe County for Chester’s Fried Chicken!
Offering Vroom pickup service for their customers, Cubby’s Convenience Store in Syracuse has built up their existing drive thru window service to help manage their deliveries in a COVID-friendly way. Kim said, “once COVID-19 hit, we’ve had a lot of elderly customers. We have a drive thru window from when the building was originally built so they call and find out what we have in stock and we’ll get it ready for them to pick up.” Taking this to a new level, customers can now order their food and pantry staples directly through the app for pickup!
To find out more about Cubby’s Vroom Service, please visit Vroom Delivery, Syracuse: Cubby’s #117, Syracuse.