FavTrip takes over 7-Eleven spot on Grandview Road despite history of crime there

By Ben McCarthy

There’s a strange, robotic, Orwellian voice you might hear as you approach Babir Sultan’s newest FavTrip location on 11107 Grandview Road. The former 7-Eleven has been fully renovated, with a state-of-the-art security system front and center. 

“You’re under surveillance,” beckons the strange voice. 

It emits from a red and blue blinking camera outside the building, just one of 25 new cameras that Sultan has equipped it with. 

Sultan says the cameras are being monitored in real time by a security firm. He’s already invested $5,000 into the system, hoping to keep the new store free from the kind of regular crime that plagued 7-Eleven’s tenure at the location. This will be Sultan’s fifth FavTrip location around Kansas City, and he’s certainly no stranger to having these safety concerns to his 24/7 convenience stores and gas pumps. 

“We’ve been in rough neighborhoods before, but we’re optimistic,” Sultan said. “We’re looking at everything in terms of being here for the long haul.” 

The 42-year-old Sultan is hoping to have  his fifth and newest FavTrip location in town this Monday (May 13th). The soft opening will precede a much more lavish grand opening full of pomp and circumstance once things are running smoothly. 

Already, the journey to get this store off the ground has been nothing but rough. After taking possession of the building in March, the HVAC unit was taken off the roof. Sultan knew that it was easier to just eat the cost of a new $34,000 unit rather than file an insurance claim, an act that would only make his already significant premiums shoot through the roof. Instead, he’s looking on the bright side, and senses that he’s on the five yard line and about to punch the ball across the goal line. 

“We just got the health inspection done and we’ve got our tobacco license,” Sultan said. “People were telling me to not open up here – I knew about the crime, but what (people) don’t understand is that most of the real estate around Kansas City is taken.”

Insurers prefer that his stores be open at all times. His store in Grandview was broken into last year, before he switched it to the ‘round the clock schedule. 

The glass surrounding the register will be reinforced to protect employees, and Sultan says he’s being up front with prospective employees during interviews about their freedom to carry firearms on premises if they are licensed (he seems to be stopping just short of endorsing the move).

He’d rather promote the business’s YouTube channel, which somehow has amassed quite a following and reputation. With almost 100,000 subscribers, it’s most popular video has reached over 4.4 million views. Sultan has decided to turn store theft into entertainment, by chopping together video from his many surveillance monitors, and adding his own unique play-by-play commentary. He’s even showcased his own employees pilfering from the cash register, and the ensuing police response. 

“I just felt like we had to poke fun at the situation because you have some people coming in and trying to shoplift four or five times a day,” Sultan said. “Hopefully it’s a little bit of a deterrent and entertainment for everyone.” 

Sultan just returned from speaking at a convenience store food convention in Tampa Florida,  where he talked about his 20 years of experience in the field.  His FavTrip in Independence, MO (his first location) will celebrate its 20th anniversary this fall. He has managed to build the brand without liquor or lottery tickets, two products which historically offer reliable, returning customers. He also avoids any kind of “paraphernalia” that he deems exists in a “gray area,” legally speaking.

Instead he discussed with the crowd how he found a path forward in the industry through a data-driven approach and finding valuable consumer revelations buried within it. Sultan arrived in Grandview in the early 2000’s with an IT background, but began working locally as a cashier first. It was a far cry from living on the east coast, where he was a network administrator at JFK airport in New York. 

With his newest store almost ready for the public, he’s busy bringing the final elements of the operation together. He promises lots of free Royals tickets this summer, along with deals through his text club (featuring offers of up to 50 cents off every gallon of gas on Fridays). He has a partnership with a company called TruAge, to help prevent tobacco sales to minors. He seems most proud of his company’s commitment to offering healthier food options and alternatives to traditional convenience store snacks.

“We want to have fruit and other items people may not have if they are in a ‘food desert’,” Sultan said. “And we will price it in a way that’s similar to local grocery stores, and even Walmart.” 

Until next week’s soft opening, Sultan estimates that he will have put somewhere between $60-65,000 into his latest store before he rings up the first sale.