Inwood Convenience Store Steps Into the Future on Facebook
December 23, 2011 6:53am | By Carla Zanoni, DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
The Optimo 207 Candy store was opened by a Ottman's parents during the 1980s when his parents moved to Inwood from Yemen, (DNAinfo/Carla Zanoni)
INWOOD — Throughout Manhattan, the classic Optimo candy store — with its well-known, hand-painted awning hawking cigars, candy and other items — is quickly becoming a thing of the past.
But one uptown mom-and-pop shop is not only thriving on a busy corner, it is expanding to a new frontier — Facebook.
Wallid Ottman, 21, the son of a Yemeni couple who opened the Optimo 207 candy store more than 30 years ago on West 207th Street near Broadway, spent his days running the small shop that sells an array of scratch-off lottery tickets, snacks, newspapers and candy.
Passing time behind the counter on his laptop, Ottman decided to set up the social-networking page on a whim.
He then let customers know about the page through a more traditional medium — a handwritten sign taped to the window of the shop.
“I’m always on it, so I thought ‘Why not?’” said Ottman, who explained that he uses social media to learn more about his customers, as well as communicate with them online.
“For now I’m using my own social network to see what’s new and figure out what they’re into, so we can carry those products in the store.”
Ottman, who was born and raised in Inwood, grew up online trying out a bevy of social-media sites, like Skonex and MySpace, before moving on to Facebook and Twitter.
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