As a child, Rachel Krupa loved going to convenience stores for candy and popsicles. As she grew up and her tastes evolved along healthier lines, she could never find the products that met her needs. Rather than continue compromising, she opened The Goods Mart.
In the shell of an oddly shaped, 800-square-foot, 1970s-era drive-thru mini mart, Krupa created a c-store concept that curates products made with natural ingredients, including no artificial flavors or sweeteners, growth hormones or hormone disruptors; and only humanely raised animal proteins that are nitrate-, antibiotic- and GMO-free.
Krupa also runs a public-relations agency that focuses on food and wellness brands. “I was so inspired by what my clients were doing: giving back, providing food education, rethinking sustainability, letting the best ingredients shine and building community around better-for-you, better-for-planet products,” she says.
The store is designed as an alternative to the conventional c-store offer.
“7-Eleven is a globally scaled convenience format,” she says. “I’d like to reinvent that concept by featuring socially conscious and better-for-you brands combined with a focus on sustainability. My goal is to create on-trend, health-conscious stores around the world.”
Krupa also wants to minimize The Goods Mart’s ecological footprint. The store does not sell any packaged beverages sold in single-serve plastic bottles. Minimizing plastics and using compostable materials for its coffee, slushies and cold brew is a unique challenge. “We’re still looking for the elusive compostable lid for cold drinks,” Krupa says.
Krupa plans to open at least two more locations this year, including another in Los Angeles. She will also expand the concept’s community involvement, she says.
“No one was revamping the convenience stores I loved as a kid in a way that flowed with the magic that’s happening in the food industry right now.”
Photograph by Gregg Segal