BUSINESS
Saturday, December 22, 2018
East Oregonian
A13
The Quick Stop finds niche on busy Highway 395
Drive-thru
convenience store
celebrates five
years in business
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Anyone who pulls into
the 395 Quick Stop can
travel the nation in a mat-
ter of seconds, running
their eyes over a rainbow
of license plates from every
state covering the wall of the
shop — but the drive-thru
convenience store’s roots are
planted firmly in Hermiston.
“I came across the license
plates a few years back, and
I’ve had customers bring
them to me,” said owner
Junior Ortega. “That Florida
plate, a customer brought it
for me.”
Such camaraderie has
become normal between
Ortega and his customers
since the Hermiston native
opened his drive-thru conve-
nience store, 395 Quick Stop,
five years ago on Christ-
mas Day. As he patched up
a hole in the driveway on
Thursday, he kept pausing to
wave as drivers waved and
honked at him.
Staff photo by Jayati Ramakrishnan
Hermiston native Junior Ortega owns the 395 Quick Stop, which will celebrate its fifth
anniversary on Christmas Day.
Three employees, includ-
ing Ortega, keep the store
running, making snacks and
drinks or bringing packaged
goods like sodas and candy
out to guests, who don’t
have to leave their cars.
Open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Monday-Saturday, Ortega
spends most of his time at
the store. He recently started
closing the shop on Sun-
days so he can spend more
time with his family, which
includes four sons.
With a background in
sales, Ortega said he has
always enjoyed thinking of
new ideas and ways to pro-
vide a service. The store
started out as a simple con-
venience store, selling pack-
aged snacks and sodas, as
well as beer and items like
bags of ice — but allowing
people to stay in their cars
while employees bring the
items right to their windows.
Ortega has added new
things, some at the request
of customers and others his
own ideas.
“Like gallons of milk,”
he said. “That was the sug-
gestion of a customer. We do
things like ‘build your own
six-pack’ of beer. I try to
keep an open mind.”
Tostilocos, fruit cups with
chamoy, cups of corn and
bionicos, Mexican snacks
and desserts, have been
added to the menu, as are
some specialty lemonades
and Red Bull drinks. Come
spring, he hopes to expand
the menu even further, add-
ing street tacos and burritos.
Though some of the spe-
cialty items, like the fla-
vored lemonades, have
become especially popular
with customers, Ortega said
he believes the atmosphere
of the store is what keeps
people coming back.
“We get all kinds of dif-
ferent customers,” he said.
“The easiest way to tell if
they’re new is when they
come in the drive-thru the
wrong way.”
Though the interac-
tions are short, with hun-
dreds of customers driving
through each day, Ortega
said he tries to make every-
one who comes through feel
welcome.
Jordan Sharp, who came
through the drive-thru on
Thursday afternoon, said
she’s been coming to the
Quick Stop since it opened.
“We were really excited,”
she said. “It’s so convenient.
I hated dragging my kids
into a gas station.”
They enjoy the corn and
Takis with cheese, as well
as the interaction with the
store’s employees.
“It’s fun that they do
trivia and give away drinks,”
she said.
“We keep it pretty sim-
ple,” Ortega said. “You take
care of the people who take
care of you.”
He also interacts with
his customers regularly on
Facebook, Snapchat, Insta-
gram and Twitter, posting
multiple times a day, with
specials and trivia questions
that customers can answer
when they drive through.
“Social media is my cup
of tea,” he said.
Earlier in the week, he
posted a poll, asking cus-
tomers which of the store’s
three employees they’d like
to see dressed up as Santa
Claus while they work this
Saturday. Customers, of
course, chose Ortega, so he
donned a St. Nick suit for
the weekend as he worked.
“Our customers are what
make the whole idea fun,”
he said. “I’m really big on
relationships, and I’m pretty
happy with what we’ve
put together in the past five
years.”
A decade-long rally on Wall Street looks like it’s ending
NEW YORK (AP) —
After almost 10 years, Wall
Street’s rally looks like it’s
ending.
Another day of big losses
Friday left the U.S. market
with its worst week in more
than seven years. All of the
major indexes have lost 16 to
26 percent from their highs
this summer and fall. Bar-
ring huge gains during the
upcoming holiday period,
this will be the worst Decem-
ber for stocks since 1931.
There hasn’t been one
major shock that has sent
stocks plunging. The U.S.
economy has been growing
since 2009, and most experts
think it will keep expanding
for now. But it’s likely to do
so at a slower pace.
As they look ahead,
investors are finding more
and more reasons to worry.
The U.S. has been locked in
a trade dispute with China
for nine months. Economies
in Europe and China are
slowing. And rising interest
rates in the U.S. could slow
its economy even more.
Stocks are now headed
for their single worst month
since October 2008, when
the market was being bat-
tered by the global financial
crisis.
December is generally the
strongest time of the year for
U.S. stocks. Traders often
talk about a “Santa rally”
that adds to the year’s gains
as people adjust their port-
folios in anticipation of the
year to come.
But not this year.
No sector of the mar-
ket has been spared. Large
multi-national
companies
join smaller domestic ones in
their losses. And huge high-
tech companies, once the
best-performing stocks on
the market, are now leading
the way lower.
Technology’s huge popu-
larity during the recent boom
years made it even more vul-
nerable as investors’ moods
turn sour. Amazon, Face-
book, Apple, Netflix, and
Google’s parent company,
Alphabet, have seen their
market values fall by hun-
dreds of billions of dollars.
“If you live by momen-
tum, you die by momen-
tum,” said Sam Stovall,
chief investment strategist
for CFRA.
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File
In this Dec. 11, 2018, file photo, the New York Stock Exchange
is bathed in holiday light in New York.
49th Annual
Christmas Express
Purchase a vehicle in December and a portion of all proceeds will go
towards purchasing new toys for the Christmas Connection. New toy
donations will also be accepted at the dealership.
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