Jackson Free Press

If people are at a show at downtown venues such as Big Sleepy's or headed to the King Edward Hotel, they may notice Downtown Snack Shop's blue neon sign glowing among the street lights.

The convenience store is the first business of its kind in a long time for downtown Jackson. Inside, near the drink refrigerators in the store sits a boiled-peanut vending machine. Off to the left is a Starbucks refrigerator, and near the back is a shelf full of medical and health supplies and other items. Near the front, TVs on opposite walls play different channels.

LaQuita Wilson opened the store in January. On March 15, the business had a ribbon-cutting ceremony, which Mayor Tony Yarber attended.

Wilson says she used to go downtown when she had a lot of things happening, and would walk around and try to clear her head.

"(I observed) how everybody (who) worked down here, they always enjoyed walking and getting a break, and I was like, 'They don't even have a convenience store,'" she says.

She remarks how different downtown is now compared to how it was 30 years ago.

"Every corner, every building had something going on," she says. "It was so beautiful. ... They had shoe shops, coffee shops; they had different kinds of restaurants."

When she was about 20 years old, she began working at a BP gas station on County Line Road. At first, she was going to college for nursing. She was going to be a medical assistant but then decided against it after her internship, as she says she didn't like to see anyone sick and sad.

"I'd be so depressed, and I didn't even know the person," she says.

It was then that she decided to focus on plan B, which was management. At 23, she became an assistant manager at an Exxon in Clinton, and two years later, she became a manager there.

"I'm a people person," she says. "I love people. I don't see color when it comes to anyone. I love different cultures; I love people and their different ideas; I love people to tell me, 'Oh, you make my day better.' ... It's more than just serving somebody, selling them a soda or some chips."

Wilson graduated from Jackson State University in 2005 with a master's degree in management. Years ago, she says a customer told her that she should own her own convenience store. While she initially brushed off the idea, it always stuck in the back of her mind.

She says that owning a gas station is expensive, so she decided that she wanted to have a little corner store.

"That's what led me to do my own thing and get my own convenience store," Wilson says.

In August 2015, she began the process to open her business. She says the space for the business had to be gutted and remodeled.

"When I first saw this place, it was ... how can I put it? It was a dump," she says. "Seriously. Everybody was like, 'I don't see a vision.' I was like, 'Listen to me, it's a vision.' Every time I brought something, they were like, 'I don't think that's going to work.' I was like, 'Just do what I say. Let's get up in here and get this place cleaned up.'"

The store currently has its liquor, cigarette and lounge licenses. In the near future, Downtown Snack Shop will begin serving short-order meals such as pork-chop sandwiches, fish, burgers and chicken. She says the goal isn't to compete with restaurants in the area such as Parlor Market, so she'll be cognizant of what the store serves. In a couple of years, Wilson hopes to have more than one location for the Downtown Snack Shop, and is already eyeing spaces.

Downtown Snack Shop (205 W. Capitol St., 769-572-4349) is open Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from noon to midnight. For more information, find the business on Instagram.