Short Stop Not A Last Stop

Todays News

By the end of this month, the Short Stop Market will close down to make room for more retail space at The Women’s Exchange. But owner Ali Molavi says this doesn’t mean the end of his days helping wine connoisseurs and craft beer lovers find the perfect imbibe. “I’ve been doing this for over 30 years,” he says. “I think it’s what I do well.”

Molavi and wife Jane, who runs the Deli at Short Stop inside the convenience store, announced this week that the long-time Sarasota store would close for good, at the end of June at the latest and sooner if inventory moves. “It was the proper opportunity, the right time for the right price,” he says. “I’m looking to move on to bigger and better things.”

Part of why the recent selling to The Women’s Exchange now made sense, Molavi says, is that the retail nature of the long-time store will be preserved; the nonprofit next door wanted more parking and a larger sales floor. The sale doesn’t mean a new high-rise looming over Laurel Park, he says.

The store predates the Molavis, first opening its doors in 1967. Molavi has run this store for 15 years, after spending years helping his father with two Beverage Station locations in Riverview. An Iranian immigrant living in America since age 2, he didn’t initially plan to operate a convenience store, and studied chemical engineering, but got back into the business when he found trouble finding an employee willing to hire someone of Middle Eastern descent post-9/11.

The store proved a great place to raise a family, the Molavis told SRQ magazine when the store was featured in the January issue as a legendary local business. But as the couple's two sons have grown older—Bijan is now 12, Kamran 10—the management of the store became a time-consuming thing keeping the family from major vacations and other cherished moments. “This is my first time from my recollection of adulthood where, as a family, we’ve been able to go somewhere for eight days, 10 days, two weeks without any worries,” he says. “I’m still waiting for that call from work that says, ‘Boss, everything is fine and we wanted to let you know.’ It’s always ‘something’s broken’ or ‘something went wrong.’ Psychologically, I’m looking forward to being relaxed.”

So family time will be the priority for now. But Molavi’s entrepreneurship didn’t get sold away. He’d still like to get back to running a business in the future, though more likely one focused on beverages rather than the delicate business of perishable foods.

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