Allentown Trading Company

I got gas here. Because of the credit card I was using, I had to use it inside the store. I had to guess how much the gas would cost, and return for a refund of the difference. As annoying as that sounds, I went back into the store, and the cashier had already processed the refund. She was friendly and accommodating.

It is entirely possible that Allentown Trading Company embodies all of the promise, all of the contradictions, all of the diversity, all of the issues of the neighborhood better than any other institution in the neighborhood.
Walk in here any time of day, and you will see that the clientele of this gas station and minimart runs the gamut. Around noontime on a weekday, ladies and gentlemen in scrubs to or from Roswell queue up behind crackheads, suits, food-​stamp wielders one step from impoverishment, teenagers on the lam, hipsters, and raving maniacs. So long as the money keeps coming, it doesn’t matter if the purchase is gas, scratch offs, beer, limes, capicola…
Wait, what? A gas station sells vegetables, pastries, and deli meats? This one does. Like Allentown’s own composition, the array of items available is baffling, often beyond logic. While microbrews and chips can be found in abundance, in a variety of different sizes and shapes, no large boxes of cookies can be found. Cottage cheese is available, as are Gramma Mora’s tacos and fresh produce, and I always wonder on seeing them who is actually purchasing them. (It turns out that I am in fact a cottage cheese fiend.)
But for this convenience, for this variety of products, prices oftentimes trend towards the absurd. You won’t find candy for less than $ 1.19 each, even though they’ll sell at Tops on Niagara Street for nearly half that. Packs of 12 Oreos sell for 50 cents less than a full package would at the nearby PriceRite. Meanwhile, you can find coldcuts for less than $ 3 a pound and Al Cohen’s brand bakery rolls and rye bread at prices cheaper than the same TOPS. What the heck is up with this place?
As a consistent visitor, I find Allentown Trading Company’s bizarre prices and weird selection as frustrating as I find the rest of the neighborhood. As someone perhaps stopping in on their way downtown in the morning, I suppose it would blend in with everything else.
NB: Their coffee is NOT good, but it is cheap. Buy six cups, proffer a punch card, and you’ll find that your seventh is free.

This is pretty cool as far as gas stations go — decent selection, non-​cramped layout, really nice, cute building, clean store and fairly clean lot (as much as can be expected in a night life district), friendly & efficient employees. As I understand, the owners had to jump through a lot of hoops for the store & lot design to get the Allentown Association’s seal of approval before they could move ahead and the result is a lovely building that is far more in keeping with the ‘hood’s style than one would think a gas station/​quicky mart could be. They have long, convenient hours and offer a decent selection of pre-​packaged, ready-​made and fresh foods for those in need of a snack or lunch on the go.
I have been desperately googling to find out if this is independently owned (the name seems to indicate it is not a chain, but you never know in these days when Spot coffee is owned by a corporation in Canada) so if someone knows please fill me in. If it isn’t I give them props for coming off as mom’n’pop, but not in the skeezy way (you know, like you expect the owners and their sweaty out of work son to live in the back and take a cut from the crack dealers who hang outside). They lose a star for being a tad overpriced on some items and often on gas when compared to other area stores.