Live From Redfern Convenience Store

Tommy: The Daily Talk Show.

Josh: It's a Daily Talk Show episode 462, and I can safely say we've never done a podcast from a convenience store, let alone the world's best convenience store. We're here at the, the convenience store that has taken out that title by Ben Fordham. He's constantly saying it. We're at the Redfern convenience store with Hazem. How are you?

Hazem: Good, mate. How are you?

Josh: Yeah, very good.

Tommy: Mate, when you first saw us across the road when we were getting out of our Uber and walking out with our baggage, I just saw the smile on your face. But as soon as I saw the smile, I saw the most amazing moustache that I've probably ever seen too.

Hazem: Thank you.

Tommy: Is this an everyday thing?

Hazem: Now, yes. It's actually brand new. It's only been like this for— like, I've been trying to do it for a while, but But it's actually official every day for nearly 7 days now. Yeah.

Josh: Well, you know what's also been official for just over 7 days? About 10 days. You? This mo. Really? Yeah.

Hazem: I've got a fake one if you want to follow me.

Josh: What do you think? I mean, out of 10, what would you rate it?

Hazem: As in yours or mine?

Josh: Yeah, mine.

Hazem: Yours? Let's say 7.

Josh: A 7.

Tommy: That is so generous when yours has to be a 14 then.

Mason: Because it's twice as good.

Josh: Is it some form of gel or some sort of wax?

Hazem: You do wax them, yeah. First they look ugly in the beginning. They will look ugly for a while, but then when they get the correct length, then as soon as you wax them, they will be fine.

Josh: Do you think I could get a curl happening?

Hazem: For sure, yes.

Tommy: Because to describe it, it's how you would draw a moustache on somebody. You'd start with like a circle, and then you'd flow through the middle, the bottom of the nose, then to the other side, and then do another circle. So it's full old-school investigator, like Sherlock Holmes style moustache.

Hazem: I've never drawn one, but I think I would start from the middle and then I go to the circle.

Tommy: Mate, just look in the mirror and draw it. You've got it right there. But where we're standing, this is—

Hazem: I love—

Tommy: this feels like an American convenience store. Like, I've done a little bit of travelling in the States, and what I've always loved about them is that there's this huge variety of brands.

Hazem: Yes, we've got heaps, not just the American actually, we got Irish stuff, we got Mexican products, we got from very much one thing from every country. And we, we, it's just all to keep, it's because Redfin has like lots of multicultural people that they live around here and they all come in and then when they see something that they've seen overseas or they've seen when they were growing up then they get too excited and then that grows them to ask me to get them something else that it's not there and then I get that for them and then it becomes like growing from one, like we start from the Cheetos chips and now we've got whole America here, whole the UK here, whole Mexico here, so it's one stop for every country.

Josh: How did you get the convenience store started?

Hazem: It's like how you go, you go to the agent, you find a shop, you sign a lease, you open a shop. It started, my dad moved to Australia in 2000 by himself and then he started it and then 3 years later I came to Australia. So I start working with him at the convenience store when I was in 2003 and then 2005 I told him like, it's, you can't control anymore, it's, I'm gonna take over, you retire.

Tommy: You kicked your dad out?

Hazem: I didn't kick him, I was nice to him to make him retire.

Tommy: And how much has changed since your dad had it to now?

Hazem: A big change. The area has changed. The actual convenience store has changed too. Like, even from selling just milk and bread, now we concentrate on all the products that come from overseas with all the sweets and the chips, the chocolate, the cereals, the drinks. We got like hundreds and thousands, like we've got more than 5,000 barcodes in this store. Wow.

Josh: I mean, I'm already eyeing off, and I saw this on your Instagram, how many followers have you got on Instagram?

Hazem: We've got more than 15,000 followers.

Josh: I mean, outrageous. How many people would come through the door in a single day, do you think?

Hazem: It varies, but we could say from 600 to 1,000.

Josh: Amazing.

Tommy: I will say that this is currently trading hours for you, so we will have some people walking past the camera which are your lovely customers. There is something on your Instagram which is, if you jump on, you see your lovely customers.

Hazem: That's the main thing about our Instagram, about our customers. When we started the Instagram, we didn't want to show the people what we have. We just want to show them who comes to our store and to show them the smiles on their faces and tell them their stories. So it gives an option, an opportunity for the people that when they don't live in Redfern to actually see the life in Redfern and be like, they feel like when they see the Instagram and they see who's the customer of the day, they actually feel like they are in the store. They are with me here serving them and seeing their smile too.

Tommy: And so you started taking photos and it's customer of the day.

Hazem: Yeah. When Ben told me, because this is all because of Ben Fordham, when he told me to start the Instagram, we thought about it and we said like, when instead if we post a product, we need to post the— actually, we take pictures for our customers. Yeah. And then that's how it kicks off and then it becomes really, really popular and it becomes like a dream for everyone. To be customer of the day. And people travel from like not just Redfern, from all over Australia, even people they live around the world, they send their friends, the one they know they live in Australia to come here and to be lucky and be customer of the day.

Josh: What does it take to be customer of the day?

Hazem: This is the questions I get all the time. For me, it's very hard. Cash, cash, you know.

Tommy: 500 under the table?

Hazem: Definitely done. No, but, but no, it's actually, it just When I choose them, it's, uh, I just choose the one they have a story, a beautiful storey behind them. Why did they come here? They showed me how much they love the store. And then sometimes, like, uh, it just— they just have a beautiful smile. It doesn't need anything. You don't need any cash, you don't need any money. All what you need is just a beautiful smile, and you definitely be customer of the day.

Josh: What— who's been your favourite customer of the day, if you had to pick one?

Hazem: As in how?

Josh: Like, uh, just someone who was really remarkable that could potentially— if you were to do a customer of the year, you think that they could potentially get an award?

Hazem: The, the thing is, all my probably 1,050 posts on my Instagram, they're all special and they are amazing, but the one I will pick is We've done a birthday party for a kid in here, and he become customer of the day. Yeah, that was very special.

Tommy: So, hey, you had a party?

Hazem: Yeah, we just had a— uh, what happened is like the, the kid called me from North Sydney and he said like, I'm coming with my friends to do, um, to come to visit your store. So I said, to celebrate his birthday. So I went to the supermarket, I bought a cake and he didn't know about it. And then when he walked in, I turned off the lights and I put the lights on for the candles, and he walked in and he was super surprised. Like, he was the happiest in the world to see a cake and a candle waiting for him in the store. And then we put some music.

Josh: Yeah.

Hazem: And yeah, that was his, like, everything.

Josh: Well, I was mentioning before, there's something that I've been eyeing off, and it's the I love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

Hazem: Yes.

Tommy: And it looks—

Josh: and the main thing I like about the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups is the peanut butter, obviously.

Hazem: Yes.

Josh: Is that a product that has more peanut butter in it than the standard one?

Hazem: Yes, they do two. There's two new ones. One has more chocolates than the peanut butter, and they have another one that has more peanut butter than the chocolate.

Josh: Oh, this is that, right?

Hazem: And then there's the medium one, which has the same level of chocolate and the same level of peanut butter.

Josh: Bit bigger.

Hazem: Is it all the normal size? No, no, same size. Same size. Just to give you the option.

Tommy: You're a very generous man. You said, have something if you want something, have it. And I said, we want to pay. And then you said no. And then we had a fight and you won.

Hazem: So just because of the muscle?

Tommy: It's because you sell protein powder. But I want to go and— because there's something here that Josh loves.

Mason: Yes.

Josh: More than the peanut butter, you think?

Tommy: Oh, I think it's up there. I think it's up there. And I think it's— I'm going to give you the mic. I'm going to run off. You guys chat. I'll be back.

Mason: Okay.

Hazem: G'day, mate. Hello.

Josh: Great to be here. The hours that you're working, when are you open?

Hazem: So the store opens at 7 AM and close midnight. Weekend we stay till 1 AM. But the first 7 years me running this store, I was doing about 18 hours a day for 7 days for 7 years.

Josh: And so when do you pick different types of stock and how do you know what products to buy?

Hazem: Mostly I say I look around and search a lot. Also, what my customers ask about. So if they ask me about something, I look at it. If it gets exciting, I definitely get it.

Josh: And what do you think is the number one selling product right now?

Hazem: It would be the Cheetos chips.

Josh: Cheetos chips.

Hazem: Cheetos.

Tommy: Can you pass over a packet, Mr. 97? Make sure you pick a What's the best flavor, Hazem?

Josh: Flamin' Hot?

Hazem: Not this one, the one on the top. The one just above them, yes. Yeah, Flamin' Hot is the best one.

Josh: There we go.

Hazem: Yeah, don't destroy the shelf.

Josh: Mr. 97 is doing it.

Hazem: He's gonna— that's why he will never get a job here.

Tommy: All right, so these are yum, cheers. All right, I'm going to show you, Josh, I've got—

Josh: oh, LaCroix!

Hazem: I was about to talk about them.

Josh: I love LaCroix.

Tommy: We've done some time over in the States. That sounds— we weren't in prison in the States, we've been on a holiday yesterday and travelled there. But this is something, uh, LaCroix, this is something that we love, we love when we're in the States.

Hazem: Even my customers here, they love me so much for me getting this into the country. And we're the only one in Sydney sells LaCroix drink.

Tommy: Wow. And so it's—

Hazem: we actually ship it to Melbourne, we ship it to Perth, we ship it to even locally. Like, people, they rang me like, we need 10 boxes, 5 boxes, and we have them not just in the fridge. We actually— they are available here in the boxes to sell. We've got all the flavour of them. And yes, they are like the most super exciting product we have.

Josh: And so how do you get in contact with them? How do you actually get them imported?

Hazem: I just go Google.

Josh: Yeah.

Hazem: And I call the company. No, it doesn't work like that. It's actually sometimes the reason why we are the only one have it. It's just because it's not really an easy process to actually get the product in. And it takes really a big risk and like to buy all because you have to buy a big quantity. But yeah, we deal direct with the company or maybe with our distributor over there. They organise the shipping for us and then they bring them and then when they get here, I just go pick them up from the port.

Tommy: The port? What's that process like? So you, well, you rock up, you just got your van and you're just whacking in.

Hazem: You know, you have to pay money first before.

Tommy: Yeah, it's the $500.

Hazem: Probably more, probably more.

Tommy: Um, what flavour are these? Good flavors?

Hazem: Has orange is good, berry is good. My favourite is the grapefruit. Oh yeah, just more, more tasty. There's one in there if you want to try it.

Tommy: What do you like, Josh? Do you like any of these flavors?

Hazem: Which one was your favourite when you was in the States?

Tommy: Um, well, I mean, we, we went through so many of them. So what they are, if you've never had LaCroix, it's fizzy water, soda water with flavor, natural flavor, so no sugar. So it tastes like you're drinking a naughty drink, but you're actually drinking—

Hazem: but it's okay, you're drinking water, but it's, it's with a flavor.

Tommy: LaCroix, even Post Malone sings about it in his song.

Hazem: I don't know who's that guy.

Tommy: Okay, you're more famous than him, don't worry.

Josh: Does the US dollar and Aussie dollar, does that play a factor when you're importing?

Hazem: It does, it makes a big Difference on the cost of us, we try to cut the cost as much as we can, but sometimes the dollars, yeah, makes a big difference. Like it could make the same product between, if we're gonna say each can, it could jump to 50 cents more in cost in different time of the year or in different size of like in the exchange of the dollars.

Josh: What happens if someone comes into the store and they say, hey, 'Hasim, have you got this product?' and you don't have it?

Hazem: I make it for them straight away. No, the first things we like, we take the name of it if I don't know it, and then we try to contact our suppliers in the USA or in the UK if it's from there, or even from Ireland or from Mexico. And then if whoever has it, we ship it in.

Josh: Ben Fordham was telling us a storey of a lady who came in and she said, 'Hasim, I need some breadcrumbs.

Hazem: Do you sell breadcrumbs?' Yeah, that's in occasions like breadcrumbs available everywhere, but what we do here is if a customer comes in and asks for breadcrumbs and we don't have, I will keep them busy with something else. I go somewhere, get them, and come back and then give it to them.

Josh: I mean, that's a true convenience store, isn't it?

Tommy: Yeah, it's, um, you're a customer service guy. Is this— how have you sort of got on to being this way?

Hazem: It's just, um, I think first thanks to my dad, the one he taught me to be like this with my customers. So since I was young, he always— the first thing is like he wants me to be nice to everyone, smile to them. And then I just— it worked, you know. Like, if you're angry with, like, with your customer, they will never come back. And if you smile and you're happy, they always come back. So why would I choose the angry face, you know? So, so always treat them with the nicest way possible, smiling to them. Even if they're having a bad day, I chat to them, I make them happy, they leave with a smile. So this is why people like, love this store, because even if they're not happy, even if they had a bad day, as soon as they walk in, they leave with a big smile, so they forget about their day.

Josh: Is it, I feel like having a convenience store, you'd have people trying to nick stuff off the shelves, stealing stuff. How do you deal with with that? I mean, you've got big guns who just tackle them.

Hazem: Look, this is a problem in all the world, not just in Redfern or in my store. But unfortunately, yes, it does happen all the time. And most of the time, 99%, we catch them thanks to all the cameras and to my staff. They actually look very well and they know these guys if they want to do it. So the solution for it is like just to ask to take it back. And then when they do, if they're nice and they really need that product— say if a homeless man walked in and tried to sneak an ice cream or a chocolate, and if he's nice, he said, 'I'm sorry, I am hungry,' that's it, I'll give it to him.

Tommy: Has this happened?

Hazem: It does, yes, it did. And yeah, like, I would give it to him. I would, like, just say, like, I'll buy him a chocolate. He needs But sometimes you catch them and they become really aggressive and they want to fight you and then they think, oh, I didn't do it, or they want to— they're just angry. I just take it from them and we kick them out. Yeah, we don't call the police. No point. I don't want to say it, but yeah, it just makes it a quick process. Finish it with them and that's it.

Tommy: What's your favourite item in here that you have personally?

Hazem: Myself? It's very hard because I really love everything we have, but I'll show you something that I really, really love.

Tommy: Hang on, you can write.

Hazem: Do you mind giving me the Lotus spread biscuit?

Josh: Lotus, just over there.

Hazem: Just that one over there. See that red?

Mason: 97.

Tommy: Bottom in the middle.

Josh: Oh, wait, no, no, no, no. See the red? It's easier.

Tommy: Asim's had to run off.

Josh: Asim's having to do it. 97, he's a bit tired right now.

Tommy: And he can't see, but—

Josh: So, okay, so what is this?

Hazem: It's, uh, you know the biscuits, Lotus? This is very famous biscuits. It's actually my favorite. This is from the UK. So this biscuits is like, actually, when I was little I used to eat it and it's my favorite. But then what they did, they did it in a jar and you're supposed to take the jar home and put it on a bread and eat it, but that's not how I do it. I actually open the jar and I eat it with a spoon.

Tommy: Can I have a look? So I just want to have a look. Is it like peanut butter or is it a sweet spread?

Hazem: No, it's actually sweet spread. It's actually the biscuits.

Tommy: Ingredients: original caramelised biscuits.

Hazem: I don't want you to think how it tastes. Let's get a spoon. Give me a few spoons. Let's try it.

Tommy: Okay, here we go.

Josh: I'm going to put the LaCroix down. I haven't even opened it yet. Okay, I'm excited about this.

Hazem: I am too, because I haven't had one since last night.

Tommy: Here we go.

Josh: You've got everything, haven't you? You've got spoons already.

Hazem: We've got pizza too.

Tommy: Pizza's here.

Josh: Perfect.

Tommy: Okay, so what was the process of getting this into the country?

Hazem: It's a little bit a challenge because we are one of the probably few stores in Sydney South-East How did you even find it? Uh, it's actually been from our customers. They actually told me.

Josh: Why did you give me such a small spoon of it? Can I do it?

Hazem: Do you want the jar?

Josh: No, it's good. Is that okay? Am I being greedy?

Tommy: As long as you can feed me, it's fine.

Hazem: Oh, can I feed you?

Josh: Should we do it at the same time? Here we go.

Hazem: You want to do the same time? Okay, let's get one for me as well.

Tommy: Yep, yep, you go for it, you go for it. It's all happening.

Hazem: This is one. See, I got more for you.

Tommy: Amazing, amazing.

Hazem: For me.

Josh: Okay, here we go. It should have looked so pale. Cheers, cheers, cheers, cheers, cheers, cheers, cheers.

Hazem: Okay, here we go. Drink.

Mason: Yeah.

Tommy: Oh yeah, that's amazing.

Hazem: You want to try it?

Mason: No, no, we're good.

Tommy: It's unbelievable.

Hazem: It's sugar-free, it's everything free. Can I get a spoon?

Mason: Hey, going in.

Hazem: She wants it. When I said sugar-free, she said yes.

Tommy: Wow. Can I ask you a question?

Hazem: Oh shit, that's actually really good.

Tommy: Do you, um, do you come here often?

Mason: Yes, this is the local, so I live up the street.

Tommy: So, um, what do you think of Hazem and what he's created?

Mason: The shop? Yeah, it's pretty good, huh? All in one.

Tommy: And then, um, lastly, all in one.

Mason: I don't know what that is. That's actually really bloody good. It tastes like cookie in a jar.

Hazem: It's actually the nuts.

Tommy: You've got it exactly right.

Josh: It is Cookie in a jar.

Mason: That's dangerous. I could just sit there watching Bridget Jones eating that, I think, on a Friday night.

Hazem: That's the whole point. I was telling them, like, you're supposed to—

Mason: That's like Nutella, huh?

Hazem: But this is your Nutella, but I eat it with a spoon.

Mason: No, I love this little shop. They're awesome here. They're super friendly. So yeah, nice.

Josh: Thank you.

Hazem: Thank you.

Tommy: Can I double dip? Is that—

Hazem: That's going to cost you now.

Tommy: I thought we already had a double dip. All right, I'm going in.

Josh: Wow, you're freaking out. One more.

Hazem: All right, look at him, he's crying down there.

Josh: He's like, please Do you want some? Here you go. Here, try it on camera and tell us what you think. Okay, you're having it.

Tommy: Thank you.

Hazem: Thank you.

Josh: How do you describe it?

Hazem: Of course you can. It's great. If your dad says yes, of course you can. Oh yeah. Is he over 2 years? Because when I was offering him that, he goes he's not allowed to lollies till he gets 2 years.

Tommy: Is he?

Hazem: He's 3. All right, so he can get—

Tommy: um, you've also got a family, a few kids of your own?

Hazem: Yes.

Tommy: Um, do they come How old are they?

Hazem: No, I've got 2 kids. A girl, she's 19 months, and a boy, he's 4 months.

Mason: Okay.

Hazem: The girl is Remas, and the boy is Ali.

Tommy: Okay, so still very young.

Hazem: Yeah, they're very young. They're not allowed to have lollies. My mom, she tried to give them some behind my back, but yeah, definitely they can't have it yet.

Tommy: This is exactly what my kid does.

Hazem: I want that one, I want that one, I want that one. Get him to choose whatever he wants. Which ones do you want, man?

Josh: So you said you— when did you come to Australia?

Hazem: I arrived to Australia in 2003.

Josh: How old were you?

Hazem: I was 17.

Josh: And where did you grow up?

Hazem: In Palestine.

Josh: And what was the experience first coming to Sydney?

Hazem: Man, it was like a dream. Yeah, I was studying, I was doing my HIC. I was doing my HIC and I just can't wait for the time for the tickets to arrive so we can come to Australia. I had a lot— like, it was a big thing. It was like from a country that it has a war all the time, you can't be outside the house after 6 PM, to come to a Free country, you could do whatever you like, you could go wherever you like without checking your ID all the time and being abused or anything. So it's like big change, big difference.

Josh: And what do you love about Redfern?

Hazem: Um, first I love my customers, but I love about the community around Redfern. It's like they have a very strong community. And when we arrived to Australia, like, we was— this is the only first shop in Redfern Street, was nothing else in Redfern. Wow. And then I remember like the first day I to the outside. And we have a culture thing back home that we wave to people even if we don't know them. We say hi. And I was doing that here, and people like look at me like, why he's waving at me, you know? Even if someone's sitting in the car, I'll still say hi. And then, um, so, and the first time like they see me, sometimes they ignore me or something. But then the second day I do that, the same thing, and then they say, oh, he seems friendly, and then they say hi. Hi back. And then now they actually don't just, they don't just walk in and say hi. They actually walk into the store, chat to me, how was my day, I chat to them, and then they go. So it become a really, really strong relationship between me and them. And the Redfin is like a beautiful, like the customers here, they're actually really beautiful. They're amazing. And they, they just love to talk and they love the fact of having someone to talk to them and chat to them. So yeah, I love them. Also, I love my customers.

Josh: What's the best time of year? Like, is it New Year's Eve or what are the times where this place is going off?

Tommy: Tonight it's pretty busy.

Hazem: Usually like A day basis, on the afternoon it gets busier when people, they go to, when they come back from work. But the best moments like were like New Year's Eve and some like Christmas, Easter. That's really good because we sell lots of chocolates. How amazing.

Tommy: What's your opening hours?

Josh: How like— We already asked that.

Tommy: Sorry, I was just worried about Mason being standing in the way.

Josh: Do you want him to move?

Tommy: You know what it actually was? I was watching that young boy And I can't believe that you— I mean, this is why I couldn't own a convenience store. I was just watching the young boy going past the lollies, and I was so triggered because I think about my son. Do you get that? Like, you see kids, yeah, and you think about what you— when, when your baby does it, you're like, it just brings up the exact feeling of like, I need to grab him and stop him from putting his hands on lollies.

Hazem: You know, it does. And when they come here and they do that, like, the same thing, I was saying, my kids, like, I've got I have small, like, young nephews and nieces, and when I take them out with me, like, I do get the same reaction.

Tommy: I was like, God, sorry, I just, I lost 5 minutes there, to be honest. I was just like, oh, he's touching the light.

Hazem: Do you like a banana?

Josh: Uh, the, uh, is it common to snack when you have all of everything available to you? Do you limit yourself?

Hazem: Uh, it's, um, I'm not a sweet person. Okay, but not as in life, but I don't eat lots of— I don't really eat lots of sweets. But to be honest, like, I do get sometimes while I'm sitting behind the counters and I feel like something, and then I go look, look to find something that's really unique. And I'm always proud of the product that when I bring to the country. Yeah, definitely, I'll try them all. Like, I go through them, but I don't really eat the whole thing. Yeah, I could eat just a small taste.

Josh: You're very good.

Hazem: Yeah, but then the rest is shared with my customers.

Tommy: Oh great, there is something behind here. This is, um, so old school, so nostalgic.

Hazem: Nerds. God, yeah, we got heaps of stuff that's this old school.

Tommy: Oh, the smell, smell of Josh.

Josh: Yeah, that smells like childhood. Yeah, absolutely. Do you have killer pythons here?

Hazem: Yeah, we do. Oh great, but they don't bite.

Josh: Big Bosses.

Tommy: Do you have Big Bosses?

Hazem: No.

Tommy: So these were, uh, there was some lollies when we grew up that were at the front of the convenience stores, you know, just in kind of the plastic where you'd lift them up. Big Bosses was one, and they're just like a bit— they were modelled as a cigar. And there used to be Fads, remember Fads? Which were paper. One of your customers just looked back and nodded. Yeah, I do too. And they were like, they were like a cigarette. They're all mimicking cigarettes and cigars, which you can't really do that kind of stuff anymore.

Hazem: But I was into them.

Josh: And now I look and you've You've got crickets, you have— what else?

Hazem: They're actually amazing on Christmas time. We sell thousands of them.

Mason: Why?

Hazem: There is crickets, worms, scorpions. Look at that. Hadeefa, could you pass me the scorpion, the one at the back? No, not this one, the other one.

Josh: So yeah, there's scorpions in lollies.

Hazem: There's scorpions in a lolly bar.

Josh: And so?

Hazem: So you eat it and you eat the scorpion.

Josh: And where are they? They come from?

Hazem: This one particularly, I think, let me check, from Mexico. These worms from Redfin Park. No, I'm just kidding.

Tommy: And so these are like a cheddar flavor, cheddar cheese flavor?

Hazem: Yeah, so the worms, they come in flavors. The crickets, they come in flavours too. Yeah, so there's crickets too.

Tommy: And so do you buy this stuff to then hope people get it, or have you been asked, can you get it? I need crickets. Hazit, I need some crickets ASAP.

Hazem: Yeah, easy. You see, done. But did someone ask you for these or you thought, okay, no, I actually was looking. I always try to find things that is unusual. And when I find this product, I was like excited, disgusted. Like, you know, it's like cricket. I will never eat it myself.

Tommy: You never have?

Hazem: I did.

Josh: Oh, you did?

Hazem: Yeah, when we got them, yes, I did. Because a few of my customers, when we first got them, like, they said, oh, if you eat it, I'll buy it. I said, yeah, I'll eat it, I don't care. As long as you buy it, you pay the money, I'll eat. But no, it's— then, yeah, we— when I first found them, like, I was— as I said, like, I was excited. And then when we first got them, like, people, they come and ask me, who buys this? I said, like, there's a— did you see the shape that one came from? 'You saw the sky earlier?' He goes, 'No.' I said, like, 'Yeah, the people, they were there, they came, they bought them and they went up.' But then, and then while he's asking me, someone else, and he goes, 'Oh my God, crickets! I want 2 packets.' So it's, uh, that's how it's, it's been. But then, um, I find them on Christmas time, they fly. Like, we saw, we saw 4,000. It's just because they're the best presents for kids. Yeah, yeah, it is about more— it's more— most people, they buy them actually not to eat them, not for protein. I mean, it is, uh, 4.3, 10 calorie snack? Yeah, it is like a snack, it is. And they reckon in 20 years this is the future food. That's gonna be the food for the people because it's really cheap to grow the crickets compared to growing a cow.

Josh: I think Tim Ferriss talks about that.

Tommy: There's proteins, cricket protein that you can buy.

Josh: What about the business side of these things? What does it take to run a really good successful full convenience store?

Hazem: Commitment. This store never closed since day one opened.

Tommy: So I missed that bit. 24 hours, 365?

Hazem: No, we open from 7 AM to midnight, but we've never had one day off.

Tommy: Okay, I see, I see.

Hazem: So my customers, when they come in this, I always hear, I love your store, I've never seen the door shut. Even we close like after midnight, when they are— when they need us, they always have the store open. The other thing is like always up with the market. So you can't sit in a convenience store and keep selling the same milk you were selling 20 years ago or the same bread. You need to change. So like when I first moved to Australia, my dad was here, is just a grocery, a corner store. He was selling milk, drinks, and like the local chips the local milk and the bread and few chocolates. And then when I start to look around, I find like we need to add more stuff, add more stuff. And then when the, when the big supermarkets start moving into Redfin as well, they affected us. It used to be 6 corner stores in Redfin. Now this is the only one left. And the only— we only stayed because we become different than the supermarket. So even people, they go to the supermarket, they do their shopping, but they still stop here to get some other stuff that the supermarket doesn't have. So being different, that what makes you stay in business. And also treating the customers the best, um, way and make them feel safe, make them feel happy, that makes them come back.

Josh: What's the best financial decision you've ever made in regards to a product? And then what's been the worst one? Which one have you less money on in the end?

Hazem: Um, it's a bit hard because I always make money.

Josh: I mean, that's a good business, right?

Hazem: It makes a lot of sense. Um, yeah, they're ones where it's like, oh, actually this, uh, I'll tell you an example. Like, with when we start bringing Cheetos to the country, we were the only one selling that, so we were selling the packet for $9.95. And then, uh, in a couple of years time, a lot of distributors in Sydney, they start bringing it to Sydney and then it become in every single shop. So what we did, instead of keeping it for $9.95, because we start to lose sale of that, and, and then what we said, we said we don't want to make any money of it. So we dropped the price of it to nearly a cost price, a little bit more cost-wise, like just about 2% over the cost price.

Josh: How much was that?

Hazem: $6.95 now. So, um, so $6.95 for the Cheetos. We dropped it from $10. So it's just to, to keep us number one of Cheetos. Yeah.

Josh: Do you upset distributors? Like, I guess doing the way that you do it, you're importing stuff and you're just making shit happen.

Hazem: This is one of the biggest upsets to them when I drop the price to $6.95 because other stores, they can't afford to sell it for that price and they can't sell it for less than $10. So it was like a big shock for them, and I'm sure they've lost a little bit of money as well because when they got their shipment, they distributed it, and everyone knows we sell it for $6.95, so no one went to the other stores to buy it. So they all went out of date and they had to stuck with stock.

Tommy: Hazem, we were talking recently about different businesses where you can ask for a discount. And I think there's some that you can't. I mean, airlines, you can't just be at the counter and say, can you give me, you know, $200 off please? A convenience store, what's— I mean, this is not a country where bartering is really a thing.

Hazem: Yes.

Tommy: Do people sometimes—

Hazem: yeah, sometimes they ask, but you know, in, in here, our prices is reasonable. Yeah, we're not putting it the maximum and we're not putting it the cheapest. Yeah, some people know, they're not stupid. The people know it's when they buy something, that price is reasonable. They know that they're not buying 3 times the— that's what they buy it normally. So they— we don't get a lot of people asking, but to be honest, if anyone asks, I always do something. Even if I don't give them a discount of what they bought, maybe I give them a free chocolate or a free lolly or something. It's just to make it, because sometimes what I think is people, which we are, they always try to win something. Yeah, even a 10 cents or 20 cents, for them it's a win. So I always want them to win as well.

Josh: I think that's great. What's been one of the big shipments that you've had that you've just been really excited about? Has there been a certain product?

Hazem: As I said, the LaCroix.

Tommy: As I pull it up to take a sip.

Hazem: This is one of the most exciting one. Also the—

Josh: how many boxes was it?

Hazem: We get a full container of that.

Josh: Full container?

Hazem: Yeah.

Josh: So how many cans?

Hazem: Talking about 7,000 cans. Wow.

Tommy: Where do you store all this stuff?

Josh: We've got a storage, a warehouse that we stock up And so we could actually, if we at our studio wanted to stock Lacroix, we could just buy it directly from you?

Hazem: Yes, you can. A lot of people, what they do, they text me on Instagram, they do direct debit, and then we ship it to them.

Josh: That's crazy.

Tommy: Is that something that's evolved? You know, you get the business model of doors open, customers come in, but you've taken it one step further.

Hazem: Yes, you see, an online store, I get a lot of my followers, they want me to do an online store, and I thought about it. We tried it, but unfortunately it's a little bit—

Josh: didn't—

Hazem: it didn't work. But we kept serving the customer, the one they don't— the one they can't make it to here, we're still happy to ship it to them. There's a girl from Melbourne, she texted me on a Sunday night. She wants a LaCroix drink to be on in Melbourne on Tuesday morning, and I worked out the best shipping for her, and she was having it by Monday afternoon.

Josh: Was she just having cravings, or was it a friend's birthday?

Hazem: She had something, an event, but she needed that urgent, and she goes like, I don't care how much I paid for shipping.

Josh: Yeah.

Hazem: So she paid for 16 cans with the shipping, it was about $100.

Josh: Oh, that's good.

Hazem: But She said it doesn't matter the money, I just need the product, and I managed to get it for her like on Monday afternoon.

Josh: So having people walking in all the time, you must have had some famous faces, surely. What famous people have you had through the store?

Hazem: We've got Ben Forder. Yeah, of course, we've got Ben Forder.

Josh: I mean, it's peeking at Ben, isn't it?

Hazem: We also got Pay for them. You know Ashwell?

Josh: Ash Williams?

Hazem: He's been here.

Tommy: Now he's scraping the barrel.

Hazem: We got, oh God, what's the name? We had some singers, the guy from, he won the, see I'm not good with TV and I can't remember his name.

Josh: Well, because you're in the store.

Hazem: Yeah, that's true. Australian—

Tommy: Australian Idol?

Hazem: The Voice. One of the guys, he won The Voice, he was here. And then we did the best things we had through the last 4 years since we started the Instagram. Like, we became Australian of the Year as well. And then, yeah, after that, to the Today Show, they wanted to do a live broadcast from here. Yeah, so we did one on the Today Show with with Kyle and Lisa.

Josh: Amazing.

Hazem: And then a few months later, we did one with— on, on the Sunrise. Yeah, as well on Channel 7. And then we did another storey on SBS. We, um— and I tell you something, it's really exciting that it happened to us.

Josh: Okay, here we go.

Hazem: Can I get that? The German. Okay, this is something really, really—

Josh: Okay, great. There's some whispering going out in the back.

Tommy: Yeah, I like this. I like this. It's behind the counter stuff going on.

Josh: Okay, so it's a book.

Hazem: Hello.

Josh: Come in.

Hazem: She's from Canada. She's, she's been one of our ambassadors. Have you made it to be an ambassador? Yes, I think so. Yeah, you made it. So she took a— she took one of our t-shirts. Yeah. And she wear it in Canada and she become the ambassadors of our store in Canada.

Tommy: Oh, great.

Hazem: We have ambassadors in China, we have in Europe, everywhere we have ambassadors. So when you grow up, when you are in school, you know, you get all these books that has all things to teach you, especially like when I was in—

Tommy: oh yeah, it's like a textbook.

Hazem: Yeah, it's like a textbook, so to learn things. And if you are in Germany, like, this is, this is a cool book to teach English.

Tommy: Yeah.

Hazem: And So this company, they were about to introduce the English book Level 4 to the school in Germany. So they contacted me, and what they did is that they actually put me on the book.

Tommy: This is—

Mason: this is—

Tommy: this kind of textbook is giving me flashbacks from my childhood. Yeah, this is so old school.

Hazem: Do you know what was funny is when I first saw the book when they send it to me. Like, I looked at it and I said, God, I always thought I look good. It's not just that. I thought always when I used to do these textbooks, I thought these people, they're fake. But then no, they're actually real people with their names on.

Tommy: You thought it was stock imagery?

Hazem: Yeah, like they just draw them or something. But no, they actually put the real name with the real picture on it.

Tommy: So it's actually really Mr. Seda has a shop in Sydney, an Australian town. He's very friendly and he has a really big range of goods. I can confirm all of that.

Josh: And an amazing moustache.

Hazem: Yeah, in here it was no moustache.

Tommy: You do customer service extremely well, and yeah, it's unbelievable what you've created here.

Josh: And Ben Fordham is constantly talking about how great you are and how great great the store is.

Hazem: Yeah, I appreciate him so much. He's amazing.

Josh: Yeah, I mean, Ben knows what's good. So, he knows it's good. Hazem, thanks so much for having us in the store. If you're watching this or you're listening, make sure if you're in Redfern, you come in, make sure you shake Hazem's hand, say hello, say that you heard about it from the Daily Talk Show.

Tommy: It's a great place to stop on the way to the airport because it's not far if you're coming in or out.

Hazem: And it's I tell you, like, a lot of customers, they came to Sydney to stay for a week or two. They actually, on their way home, like, to the airport, they stop outside, come in to say hello, introduce themselves, and then they go to the airport. So it's amazing as well.

Josh: And make sure you got to follow the world's best convenience store Instagram.

Hazem: Greatest Redfin convenience store on earth.

Mason: Yeah.

Tommy: What's the address here if people do want to find you?

Hazem: 152A Redfin Street, Redfern. And it's just on the main street of Redfin Shopping Center.

Josh: Awesome. Thanks, Hazem. It's definitely— this is one you should definitely watch the video on our YouTube channel and make sure you subscribe there. If you've enjoyed the show, make sure to subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. Otherwise, I think it's time to finish our LaCroix.

Hazem: Yeah, guys, it was really amazing to meet you two as well. And as I said, Ben told me a lot about you and his He's like, these guys, they are good guys.

Tommy: Thanks so much.

Josh: It's the Daily Talk Show. We'll see you tomorrow.

Tommy: See you guys.

Hazem: See ya.