Fans of Powell's Friendly Market now have two places to get their "World's Best" hot dog fix.
The brothers who own the small, scruffy-looking Lafayette Boulevard landmark recently opened the sleek and more spacious Powell's Market & Quick Deli just two blocks away.
The idea, say Dharmhendra "Danny" and Hasmukhlal "Harry" Patel, is to give longtime customers a place to go whenever they begin tearing down the old store to replace it with a larger one on the same site.
"We could see that we would lose business for a year [during construction], and it would take two years to get it back," said Harry Patel. "You have to prepare."
The economy was still booming when the brothers began their plans for the old Powell's, whose signature white metal sign bears the words "World's Best" next to a cartoon hot dog. They wanted to replace the rundown store with a 9,300-square-foot multi-tenant building that would be anchored by a bigger and better Powell's Friendly Market.
The Patels also bought a corner lot two blocks north at 3602 Lafayette Blvd. so they could build Jalaram Square, also a multi-tenant building. It would house Powell's Market & Quick Deli while the store at 3910 Lafayette Blvd. was being demolished. Then they'd moved the operation to the original site after the new Powell's Friendly Market was completed.
But by the time Jalaram Square was finished, the economy had soured and they were unable to find tenants for the rest of the building.
"When we started, the leases were $24 per square foot," said Danny Patel. "Now they're $15 to $19, but people are too scared to open a business in this economy."
The brothers have put their plans to replace the old Powell's on hold until the economy starts to improve, something they think could take a year or more. But they intend to take advantage of the current low prices on land to snap up a few smaller sites where they can sell those "World's Best" hot dogs that have been a Powell's draw since former owner Milton Powell started selling them years ago.
"A lot of customers say, 'Why don't you open close to my home?'" said Danny Patel. "We have people come here from Ladysmith, Bowling Green, Stafford at Geico and Old Plank Road."
The Patels also paid close attention to other things their customers were telling them when they designed the 3,000-square-foot Powell's Market & Quick Deli. They expanded the menu because people had been asking for more than just the hot dogs and barbecue served at the old store. The brothers also installed tables and chairs, something they don't have space for at the old, 1,500-square-foot store.
"Some of our customers are older people who don't want to sit in their car to eat," said Danny Patel.
The new location has gotten its share of customers from the old store, and a number of new ones as well. Some, like Ed Hilliard of Massaponax, are making the deli's freshly made chicken salad sandwiches and turkey and Swiss cheese paninis as popular as the hot dogs.
"This is the best chicken salad sandwich in town!" enthused Hilliard, who stopped by Tuesday to buy one. "I'll be back to see you again."
The Patel brothers have owned Powell's Friendly Market since 1993, when they bought it from Milton Powell. They'd immigrated from Gujarati, a state in India, three years before to be with relatives in Queens in New York City.
Harry Patel, then 22, had been an electrician and farmer in India, and Danny, then 21, worked for a small company. Both were looking for opportunities they couldn't find at home.
More than half the landowners and farmers in Gujarati are Patels, a common name in India that has its roots in the word for a parcel of land. One child typically stays on the farm while the rest go into business or look for a better job, Harry Patel said.
He and his brother decided crowded and crime-ridden Queens wasn't a good place to raise families, and moved to Fredericksburg where a brother ran the William Street Market. They bought Powell's Friendly Market because it was something they could run together.
Currently, Harry Patel and his wife, Usha, run Powell's Friendly Market, and Danny Patel and his wife, Asha, run Powell's Market and Quick Deli. Harry and Usha's daughter Nimisha divides her time between both.
"We hope the economy goes up fast," Harry Patel said. "If not, we can't do anything [about replacing the old Powell's]. It's not a good time to go too fast."
Cathy Jett: 540/374-5407
Email: cjett@freelancestar.com