Friday Photos: Invasion of the Sandwich Board Signs

It's Friday again. That means more photos.

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Route 27 Profile: Bikanervala Marks U.S. Debut

Indian sweets maker, Bikanervala, has made its entry into the U.S. market by opening a store and restaurant in Kendall Park on Aug. 20. Since opening, business has been good, says store manager Bijen Patel. It makes sense to locate the first U.S. store here. According to the 2010 U.S. census, some 15.3% of Kendall Park's population is Asian Indian, and across the street in Franklin Park,  that number is 25.7%.

An international chain,Bikanervala started out in the 1950s making sweets, but has since branched out to snacks and restaurants. The company also opened a boutique hotel in Hyderabad, India.

The restaurant is 100% vegetarian and features mostly North Indian food, with South Indian and Chinese offerings as well. While most of the chain's locations are in India, the company also has stores in New Zealand, Dubai, Nepal and Singapore. Bikanervala plans to open more stores in the U.S. and Canada.

Store manager Bijen Patel

Bikanervala USA does have a website, but "we're still building it," Patel says. It doesn't yet have online ordering, because he wanted first to focus on opening the store and get that running well.

Much of its traffic are immigrants who grew up with the brand in India. "We also get a lot of Americans,"  says Patel, who moved to the U.S. in 1989, first living in north Jersey before moving to Spotswood.

The core of Bikanervala: sweets

To celebrate its opening, the store is running a special on mixed sweets at $12.99 a pound. Other than that, the store hasn't done a lot of promotion or advertising. The best advertising, along this busy road, is when there are a lot of cars in the parking lot.

"When people see the parking lot is full, they know it's something good," Patel says.

Gas Price Update: 

Gasoline prices have reverted to their old order. Exxon is now the most expensive with Raceway and Valero being the least expensive. Prices have not gone back to where they were before Hurricane Harvey, but they have eased a little. Raceway and the Valero on Route 27 North are both at $2.639/gallon, while both BP stations and Sunoco selling regular-grade gas at $2.699.  The price at Exxon is $2.799/gallon.

Valero on Route 27 South

Let me know what's going on in your business on Route 27 between Finnegan's Lane and Route 518. Email me at lkiesche@gmail.com

Liz Kiesche
Liz, a business journalist, formerly worked for Bloomberg News in Princeton and New York.

What's on the Menu: Restaurant Census

When I first moved into this area, it seemed as if each strip mall had a Chinese restaurant, a pizza place and a dry cleaners. Having now stopped at each strip mall and listed exactly what's in each strip mall, that observation no longer holds (if it ever was true). It's more likely that each strip mall has an Indian restaurant.  Indian restaurants now outnumber pizza places in this 3.4-mile stretch of road.

Influx from India

There are eight Indian restaurants, two of which are solely vegetarian-- Udipi Cafe and Banglore Express. One Indian restaurant, Supreme Kabab & Curry House, also features Pakistani food. Meanwhile, Spice Rack describes its cuisine as Indian fusion, adding Thai and Chinese to its menu. Two Indian restaurants use halal meats -- Khan Baba Halal Meat & Grill and Supreme Kabab & Curry House.

By contrast, there are seven Italian/pizza restaurants, ranging from the long-time local establishments of DuSals and Joe's Italian Restaurant & Deli, to national pizza chains Domino's and Papa John's. Included in the count is another chain, Pie Five, that's opening a store at the corner of Finnegans Lane.

Bring Your Own

Almost all eat-in restaurants are "bring your own," bottle, that is. Except I don't think you can "bring your own" into IHOP.  Only one restaurant sells alcoholic drinks -- Shogun 27. What's missing is the neighborhood bar & grill.  At one time that had been filled by Chauncey's Pub, which was torn down in 2009. (More on that in a later edition.)  With the Society Hill condos and townhouses nearby, as well as four large apartment complexes on Route 27 and other housing developments, the area could certainly support a bar-and-grill type restaurant. It's likely nearby residents will object to a bar in their neighborhood, though. 

The township has approved a plan to build a restaurant and retail space on the site of the old Chauncey's, but it's unknown whether that restaurant will have a liquor license. (I'm looking into that.)

So I've discussed the Indian restaurants and mentioned the Italian/pizza places in the area. What about Chinese restaurants? There are three Chinese restaurants -- Chinese Wok, Kam Luang Kitchen and Lili's Oriental Restaurant.  Make it four if you include Spice Rack. The first two are basically takeout places that have a few tables, but Lili's and Spice Rack are full sit-down restaurants. 

IHOP, Confectionately Yours and Franklin Park Diner all fit into the casual, sit-down category. Generally, they're standard American fare. Confectionately Yours has some themed nights, such as Tex-Mex, German and Hungarian, in addition to their Prime Rib and Fish Fry nights.

Yet there are lots of different ethnic cuisines represented by a restaurant or two in the area -- Vietnamese, Mexican,Thai, sushi, Pakistani, Lebanese, Filipino, Afghan and soul food. The area's one Caribbean restaurant has closed.

Online Orders

Of the 38 restaurants surveyed, fifteen take orders through their own website or through such services as GrubHub and EatStreet. Pizza seems to be your best bet if you want to order from your PC or smartphone.  All of them seem to accept some form of online ordering. Domino's and Papa John's have mobile ordering and are well-known for their use of technology.

Indian restaurants are also likely to embrace technology for the ordering process. Five of them take online orders. So far, you can't order sushi online from the Route 27 Franklin Park/Kendall Park establishments.

We'll see what comes next to this stretch of Route 27. Diversity is certainly not lacking.

Stein Mart Update: 

Oct. 21 will be the last day Stein Mart is open. The store still has a lot of merchandise. Discounts range from 10% to 50%, maybe up to 70% on a few items.

Friday Photos: Fun With Flags

It's Friday. So time for more photos. This time it's flags, lots of flags on this stretch of 27. I counted 35. Six of them are flags in front of Bikanervala to advertise its grand opening. Most of these are called feather flags because -- you got it -- they're shaped like feathers.Link to slideshow

 

Email me with anything you see going on at Route 27 businesses at lkiesche@gmail.com.

Twitter: FollowFinance1

See my next column on Monday, Sept. 11

Gasoline Prices: The World Turned Upside Down

Wait! What's going on? The Raceway and Valero north of Finnegans Lane always have the cheapest price around here, right? And Exxon is always the most expensive. Well, the Exxon part is still true. But now Raceway and Valero, which are practically across the street from one another, are the same price as Exxon. But wait--if you pay using a credit card, then Exxon is cheaper than Raceway and Valero.

Since Hurricane Harvey shut down some refineries in the Houston area, gasoline prices have, of course, risen in New Jersey, as they have around the country. At the Raceway, just north of Bennington Parkway/Finnegan's Lane, the price jumped 40c/gallon to $2.799 (cash price) from $2.399. 

As of noon today (Wednesday, Sept. 6),  the lowest gasoline price $2.749 (when you pay cash) at Valero on 27 South.

At the BP on the corner of Finnegans Lane, the price is now $2.759/gallon. Again, it's unusual that BP's price is lower than the Raceway's. The BP at the corner of Allston Road and Sunoco, both close to Route 518, are selling gas at the same price as the Finnegans Lane BP.

Sunoco just north of Route 518

                                                                          

    How to account for the discrepancies? For one thing, there may be two different products they're selling. When I stopped at the Finnegans Lane BP earlier this week, I noticed a label on the gas pump, "May Contain Ethanol."  Ethanol is cheaper than gasoline. According to Business Insider, today's price for ethanol is $1.57/gallon. The average price for a gallon of regular-grade gasoline today is $2.80, according to the website GasBuddy. That's a big difference. So some of the refiners may be adding ethanol to the mix.  If you notice your miles-per-gallon decreasing, that's probably the case.

Then there are the dynamics of fuel retailing. Here's how it works. Branded fuel (such as BP, Exxon, Shell) costs more because there are more costs inherent to the product, such as advertising, research and additives. Unbranded fuel retailers rarely advertise and don't include additives in their fuels, so they sell at a discount to branded fuel.

A hurricane can mess with the supply/demand unevenly. A lot of gasoline is refined in the Houston area, and many of them had to shut down for awhile because of the storm. Some may take longer to get up and running due to storm damage. About 20%-25% of U.S. refining capacity was disrupted by Harvey, CNBC says. This may have hurt the supply of unbranded fuel more than it did branded fuel. Therefore, when supply falls and demand remains the same, the price goes up. 

Of course, once the refineries are all up and running, the gas prices may all revert back to their normal order of things. Hurricane season isn't over yet, though.

Lucky for the Texas and Louisiana, Hurricane Irma doesn't seem to be heading their way, but does appear headed for Florida. That may actually reduce demand for gasoline temporarily. Tropical storm Katia, which formed in the Gulf of Mexico, is expected to make landfall in Mexico. Stay tuned. Gas prices could be in for bumpy ride this year.

Let me know what's going on in your business on Route 27 between Finnegan's Lane and Route 518. Email me at lkiesche@gmail.com

Liz Kiesche

Friday Photos

Potting Shed truck for sale

It's Friday. It's been a long week. So here are some photos.  The tour starts at Bennington Parkway/Finnegans Lane intersection heading south, turning to Route 27 North at Route 518. Click here for slide show

Site of a house on Rt 27 close to Finnegans Lane intersection

Between Bennington Parkway and Clover Place

Potting Shed property for sale at Clover Place intersection

Building for lease that once was Franklin Park's post office, more recently a shoe repair shop

See above caption

Had been site of a historic building, Franklin Park Inn, more recently was Chauncey's Pub

See above caption

Lot for sale just south of Beekman Ave., near Franklin Montessori School

A little further south

On Route 27 North side now, north of Rt 518

Just south of Claremont, an apartment building that could be converted to retail space

See above caption.

Liz Kiesche
lkiesche@gmail.com
thisstretchof27.blogspot.com

Probing the Voids of This Retail Microcosm

People like to talk about "macroeconomics" a lot. Those are the "big picture" people. My mission here is "microeconomics". The reasoning being: You can't understand what's happening on the "macro" scale if you don't have a firm grasp on "micro" scale dynamics.

Apparel Shortage

With Stein Mart in the midst of its store-closing sale, Kendall Park/Franklin Park will be losing its one major clothing store. Alankar Boutique, which designs and sells women's clothing for the Indian demographic, remains. Still, there's a large segment of the local population who aren't Indian. Could it be most people now buy their clothing online? There must be plenty of people who want to see, feel and try on clothing before they buy (me, for one). I have a hard time believing that most people in the area buy their clothing at the two local Targets. It could be Costco and BJ's Warehouse, both close by, have eaten away at the discount clothing consumer that's also Stein Mart's target customer. More likely, it's a combination of factors.  Nevertheless, there seems to be a void. And in the business-world, where there is a void, there is opportunity. Perhaps a second-hand clothing store would work if you could get cheap enough rent. To succeed, any apparel store would require a creative angle. A Children's Place Outlet survived for many years just south of Route 518. Another apparel outlet might work well in the space where Stein Mart is now.

Coffee Hangout

Another void, the local coffee shop. Franklin Park Diner can probably serve that purpose for some. However, I'm surprised that there's no full-sized Starbucks or Panera in this area. For a Starbucks, you either have to go to North Brunswick, about 6 miles away; Somerset, 9 miles away; or Princeton, about 10 miles, to buy a grande cappuccino and plop into an overstuffed chair to read, write your blog, or listen to podcasts through your earbuds. 

If you absolutely crave or are addicted to Starbucks coffee, there's the counter at Stop & Shop, but they'll look at you funny if you bring in a chair to relax and read. There was a Rock'n' Joe coffee shop at Towne Place shopping center (near Kendall Park roller rink) a few years ago, but that didn't last very long.

Better yet, maybe the Franklin Township Library Franklin Park branch can start serving coffee and croissants. Oh, but they don't allow any food in there.  Drat!

Let me know what's going on in your business on Route 27 between Finnegan's Lane and Route 518. Email me at lkiesche@gmail.com

Liz Kiesche

Twitter: @FollowFinance1