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New Convenience Store, Gas Station To Open Near Canal Route

Carla Eckels

This piece originally aired Aug. 12, 2015, during All Things Considered.

A new convenience store and Valero gas station is set to open soon near the canal route in northeast Wichita.

The economically challenged neighborhood has been without these services for over a decade. The owner plans to create about 20 new jobs.

Credit Carla Eckels

The property at 21st and Piatt was a former grocery store and Amoco gas station that closed in the early 2000s.

The new convenience store includes a full kitchen that will serve chicken and pizza. There are also store racks reserved for specialty coffees and grocery items.

Outside, state-of-the-art gas pumps have been installed in the formerly blighted area.

Credit Carla Eckels

With financing from his father, Masoud, 33-year-old entrepreneur Amir Etezazi says acquiring the property was part of his dream.

“This area has a lot of potential as Wichita State is growing," Etezazi says. "Of course this neighborhood is also growing, and I think we owe it to the neighborhood to reinvest in it.”

Etezazi will hire about 15 to 20 clerks for the 24-hour business. The new store will open by Sept. 1.

Carla Eckels is Director of Organizational Culture at KMUW. She produces and hosts the R&B and gospel show Soulsations and brings stories of race and culture to The Range with the monthly segment In the Mix. Carla was inducted into The Kansas African American Museum's Trailblazers Hall of Fame in 2020 for her work in broadcast/journalism.