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04/25/2018 09:15 AMCustomers have bought their morning coffee, filled up their gas tanks, and grabbed a slice of pizza for lunch at the rebuilt Cumberland Farms store in Centerbrook since January, but now they can do it officially. The grand opening of the store took place last weekend, complete with samples of muffins, little cups of macaroni and cheese, and fountain drinks that were free for opening ceremonies.
Fountain drinks, in fact, will continue to provide a benefit for the next month, and not just for the thirsty. During that period, 10 cents of every fountain drink and cup of coffee will be donated to the Essex Fire Department. According to Bryan Pierce of Cumberland’s advertising department, at every store opening the local manager chooses a charity to benefit from the sales, with the total donations usually running between $1,500 to $3,000.
Essex Fire Chief Paul Fazzino, Jr., and a number of department officers and firefighters attended the opening, among them Dylan Defrino in costume as Sparky, the department’s mascot. The firefighters also brought the thing that small children love best: a big red truck.
“Having the store do this means a lot to us,” Fazzino said, adding the number of calls the fire department responds to annually keeps increasing.
According to David Heilbronner, Cumberland Farm’s director of advertising, the corporation, which has some 600 stores in New England, New York, and Florida, embarked on a modernization program in 2010, remodeling stores and changing both the company logo and the company colors from blue and orange to blue and green.
“This is a much cleaner look; that was a pretty blinding orange,” Pierce said.
Last summer the company added to what it calls its next-generation stores, with a computerized ordering terminal where customers push buttons to order a hot sandwich, which a staff member then heats up. Despite the computerized system, store manager George Anderson said some customers still prefer to confirm their order by talking to a staff member.
Food sales, in fact, are key to the chain’s ongoing business plan. As cars grow more efficient and go farther on less fuel, gas sales at Cumberland Farms have declined.
“We are filling that gap with food service,” Heilbronner said.
“Food is the future,” manager Anderson agreed, admitting a particular fondness for an apple fritter pastry at breakfast.
According to Joe Mello, the district manager, stores do not prepare food. It is all made at large kitchens at Cumberland Farms headquarters in Westborough, Massachusetts and delivered to local stores.
Mello said the decision to renovate the Centerbrook store came in large part because the old underground gas tanks had to be removed and new ones installed.
“If you were doing that, you might as well go the whole way,” he said.
Andersen said that the reaction of customers has been overwhelming positive, though there were people who missed the quaintness of the old store.
“People are so impressed. There’s a stunned look when they come in here and see the place,” he said. “Now the snow birds are back and they are amazed. When they left, this was a hole in the ground.”
Cumberland staffers, who are full-time company employees, didn’t lose their jobs during the renovation. They were assigned to stores in Madison and Deep River. Though some convenience stores operate with a largely part-time staff, Anderson said that Cumberland Farms employees were full time.
“It gives people a sense of self-worth, and makes them part of the team,” he said.
That seemed the case for Aaron Gerrie, a 12-year employee—”They treat me good,” he said.
The crowd at the opening was a mix of regular morning customers and people attracted perhaps by the staffer, dressed as a cup of iced coffee, waving outside. Inside the coffee costume was Jenny Swol, manager of the Madison Cumberland Farms store. Since Swol’s vision in the coffee outfit was limited, Tammy DellaCamera, manager of the Deep River store, led her around.
Swol was not sure how she had landed the job of a living iced coffee.
“It must have been a higher power,” she explained.
As Swol and DellaCamera stood near a souvenir table filled with T-shirts emblazoned with characters used to advertise special freezer drinks like Strawberry Monkey and Red Rage, seven-year-old Dean Demond put his arms around the human coffee container, giving Swol an excited hug.
He had a clear explanation for his enthusiasm: “Because it’s so cute,” he said.