As September rolls around, the city swarms with students. They can be found in the libraries, in coffee shops, in grocery stores and also on the corner of Preston Street and Jubilee Road with a warm slice of pepperoni pizza in their hands.
This is the location of Triple A, a family owned and operated convenience store fronted by John Amyoony. Amyoony has been growing his business for 40 years, starting when he was 18 years old. Now he gets to work along-side his kids, some who are also in university or attending school. During the summer, business is slow and sticky, but once school starts up, Triple A’s line-up is out the door.
“It’s a different kind of business,” says Amyoony, who takes great pride in running his store, no matter the season.
“Just like how you go to school, get a degree, get good marks, get good results, I feel the same way, the same pride about my business.”
Halifax has a population of about 410,000 people, and currently more than 31,000 of these people are students. Combine this with the fact that many students are from out of province, the number of people in Halifax swells significantly every September when the school year starts.
The start of the school year means a lot of increased work for the family, who have been open past their regular closing time every night since the school year began. However, Amyoony says he does not mind having to work the extra hours.
“This is our social life here. We get to know everyone and we treat our customers like family.”
The store recently started accepting Dal cards as a form of payment which has been a huge success. Students now have a convenient way to buy a slice of pizza, which is by far Triple A’s most successful selling item.
Erica Dixon, a second year student at University of King’s College, lives just up the street from Triple A, and to her, the start of the school year could not be complete without having a slice of Triple A’s pizza.
“This store has to be one of the many things I missed the most about Halifax over the summer.”
