Briarwood One Stop replacing previous store

The newly constructed Briarwood One Stop convenience store opened for business July 1 at 5092 W. Sunshine. The 3,200-square-foot facility replaced the adjacent original, 15-year-old Briar-wood store housed in a commercially converted 2,000-square-foot trailer.

At a construction cost in excess of $250,000, the new facility features aggregate sidewalks, an exterior of split-face block with brick for contrast and two backlighted glass-block entry columns. Inside, it has 18 cooler doors of storage, porcelain tile floors, chrome-grid fluorescent lighting and a tiled fountain area.

Owner Mike Taylor contracted the project himself with the aid of contractor Dennis Mathews. Taylor, along with Mathews and co-developer Tom Ple-mones, also built the nearby residential development, Haseltine Estates.

Taylor said his only question about building the store was how to do it without shutting down the old one. "We did it," he said. "We had to shut the gas pumps down for only four hours during the move."