Fred’s Market, Loved by Many, Endangered by New Trader Joe’s
On June 1 of this very school year, Trader Joe’s will be opening a branch on 1929 University Avenue. This impending opening, the subject of a long controversy in the neighborhood, may also provide competition for local businesses. Fred’s Market, a mere stones throw away from where the new Trader Joe’s will be, is one such business.
Throughout the Bay Area, Fred Ayad and his family have sporadically managed several businesses for the past 29 years, beginning with the opening of Fred’s on 2521 Telegraph Avenue, which opened in 1981. Their three sons, Sam, Ray, and Mike, can be seen behind any of the store counters.
Mona Ayad, wife of Fred Ayad, first started making the famous chicken sandwich in 1994. Before then, the deli only sold cold sandwiches. Berkeley High students have been buying sandwiches from her for the last eight years. It was only within the last year though, that she started charging 50 cents more for a student sandwich. That was when the tax for hot foods increased from 8.75 percent to 9.75 percent, and the overhead prices for her sandwiches began to add up. Ayad acknowledged that students make up 30 percent of the business that enters through the doors of Fred’s; students also purchase most of her deli products. Yet, she also expressed that the actual profit that comes from those sales is not substantial.
On an above average day, Ayad accounts for 40 sandwiches that walk out of Fred’s within a 44-minute window of time. If a student is to buy a sandwich within this time the cost is $5.50. Any other time the price is $6.78. Mona reduced the price because she believes students cannot afford the costly lunch. Especially since the two-pound sandwich is almost always complimented with one of the 23 different Arizona juices sold by Fred’s. The price of a chicken sandwich without the reduction and the drink included, is totaled at $7.77(without CRV tax).
The range of profit is anywhere from 75 cents to a dollar for the sandwiches that are sold to students, not including the drink. When asked if the profit gained by the sandwiches sold at lunch would ever provide enough income to sustain their business, Ayad responded with a firm shake of her head. Ayad continued, stating that the only comparative advantage Fred’s has on Trader Joe’s is in the sale of liquors, cooled drinks, and assorted tobacco products. The Fred’s family is still paying rent on their property on University Avenue. In addition, general sales for the deli counter are insubstantial over holiday periods.
Ayad also reminisced about the second business location their family opened. In 1984 Fred Ayad opened the Pacific Park Plaza Market on 6363 Christie Avenue in Emeryville. They maintained this business until 1993 when a Trader Joe’s moved into 5736 Christie Ave. The next year, in 1994, the Pacific Park Plaza Market closed up shop.
Fortunately enough, they held onto their property at the current Fred’s Market on University, established in 1984. The business location on 2521 Telegraph Ave that opened in 1981 had been sold to Fred’s brother in 1983. For the present Fred’s on University is at the mercy of the development of the New Californian, a Hudson McDonald building which will shelter a Trader Joe’s along with four stories of apartments, and not to mention a parking garage that will accommodate for both.
As for the Sam’s market on 2312 Telegraph Ave, where Fred Ayad currently holds his vocation, Ayad told the story of how her family acquired the business. A year after the Walgreens moved in on Telegraph, the owner of Rexel Pharmacy located on 2312 Telegraph Ave approached Fred. She wanted to sell the business specifically to Fred’s market because see didn’t want to see her location occupied by “yet another corporation.”
Fred’s opened Shop on 2123 Telegraph in October of 2008. Ayad said she worries about the Telegraph location. Her aisles must compete with Walgreens for life supplies. She fears the predominance of speedy restaurants such as Blondies, Chipotle, and Subway against her slower deli counters. Sam’s Market caters to the University at California, Berkeley students, and so their pattern of sales fluctuates with the University’s class schedule. Ayad described it as similar to the break schedule of BHS, but with larger and more costly intervals. But in regards to the ever approaching summer, she and her family can only hope for the best.
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