CLIFTON FORGE — From Punjab, Pakistan to Queens, N.Y., to Lynchburg, to Clifton Forge, Muhammad Riaz has become an entrepreneur who owns five stores, three in Lynchburg, one in Amherst and one in Clifton Forge.
His latest business venture is Food Festival Deli & Mart on Commercial Avenue across the street from the U.S. Post Office in Clifton Forge. He opened the store on Oct. 14 after new signage had been added and a complete inside renovation had taken place at the facility that had once operated as a 7-Eleven Store.
Riaz, a family man who is the father of Danyal Riaz, 30; and Amina Riaz, 19; said, “I came to Lynchburg more than 15 years ago and started a store there.”
The late James “Doody” Morris, former U.S. Marine Corps veteran of the Vietnam War and mayor of the City of Clifton Forge, operated the 7-Eleven Store, a franchise business, before purchasing the building and renaming it Morris Convenience Store.
The next owner operated the store without adding new signage, blocking the last three letters of the word, “Morris,” to render his business, Mor Convenience Store. The business faltered under the new owner’s management and closed. The building remained vacant for several years.
Riaz owns two Mr. Food Stores and one Lucky Store in Lynchburg. All three feature delis and convenience food items with ABC products and lottery tickets for customers to purchase. Triangle Market in Amherst County is the only one of his four stores outside of Clifton Forge that does not operate a deli.
Riaz remarked, “Our deli will be added to our store here in Clifton Forge in about a month.”
Jessica Lee, manager of Food Festival Deli & Mart, is from Clifton Forge. She graduated from Alleghany High School in 2004 and was previously employed by Salerno Wood Fired Pizza & Tap House in Lexington.
Lee offered, “We are the only business that I know of in the area that sells Old Dog Coffee by Big Fat Jerry.”
Big Fat Jerry is a local company known for packaging and marketing Big Fat Jerry’s brand of spices. Recently, Big Fat Jerry added Old Dog Coffee to the company’s line of products.
She concluded, “Right now we are offering our customers alcoholic beverages, canned goods, food items, tobacco products, lottery tickets, soft drinks, and coffee and doughnuts.”
Both Muhammad and Lee are looking forward to the addition of the deli to the Food Festival Deli & Mart, and the addition may take place as soon as the first week of November.
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