Pullman brings store to the people

By Tracy Farr
Editor, The Daily Spittoon

Steve Pullman has been the manager of the Stinky Creek Super Market for 27 years.  With his experience, he knows what the customers need, what they want, and how far they'll go to get both.  That's why Pullman feels confident about "bringing the store to the people." 

"I was raking my front yard one day when the ice cream truck came around," Pullman said.  "I watched as kids from all over the neighborhood rushed out of their homes as if they'd never eaten ice cream before.  And that's when it hit me.  What this country needs are mobile convenience stores."

According to Pullman, bringing the store to the people is just a matter of packing an RV with products that people need at a moment's notice.

"I can just imagine a new mother needing to change her baby's diaper and realizing that she's run out," Pullman explained.  "The baby is lying there crying, the mother is lying there crying, the husband is lying there wishing he were lying anywhere else, and along comes the mobile convenience store.  That new mother rushes out of her house with money in hand, and within minutes she's once again stocked up on diapers.  The baby's happy, the mother's happy, and the father's happy that his wife didn't rush off to the store leaving him with a naked, poopy baby."

Just like ice cream trucks, Pullman's mobile convenience stores will broadcast music to entice the customers to put down their laundry, stop mowing the yard and come shop.

"We're coming up with our own theme song that won't be near as annoying as the ice cream truck music," Pullman said.  "It'll be somewhat classical, with rap and hip hop influences, with just a hint of classic rock and a dash of Frank Sinatra; music that appeals to a wide audience.  I wouldn't be surprised if one day you hear it on the radio."

Besides diapers, the mobile convenience stores will be stocked with chips, cold drinks, ice cream, Ziploc bags, batteries, peanut butter, shoe laces, Band-Aids, aspirin as well as a wide variety of other items that are usually found at traditional stores. Customers can pay with cash, check or credit cards.  The store will even offer Christmas gift cards.

"I see this as being an idea that can be franchised throughout America," Pullman said.  "It's such a great idea, I'm still amazed that a small-town country boy like myself thought it up."

Pullman plans to roll out his first mobile convenience store in January.