TAUNTON — It’s no accident that Lou Bourassa opened a deli and convenience store across the street from a methadone clinic.
“It’s instant business,” Bourassa said, noting that recovering drug addicts who are patients of Habit OPCO at 66 Main St. come in early for coffee, cigarettes and candy.
“They’re here (at the clinic) at 6 a.m. getting their dose,” he said. “I figured we’d get at least some kind of business to begin with.”
Bourassa says since opening New England Convenience & Deli at 6 Cedar St. on Jan. 2, patients, and to a lesser extent employees, of Habit OPCO have accounted for 40 percent of sales.
It’s not the first time he’s done business near a methadone clinic.
Bourassa says a smoke shop he owned in Wareham, which he recently sold, shared a block with another Habit OPCO treatment facility.
In addition to the Taunton store, the New Bedford native says he owns a smoke shop in Middleboro and a convenience store that began as a smoke shop on North Main Street in Fall River, the latter of which he says he bought for his brother.
Bourassa, 41, says he was used to working 13 to 17 hours a day before opening the Taunton store, which sits half a block away from Main Street downtown.
“I think he’s going to do well. He’s doing it right,” said his landlord Jose Bejarano — who owns the building on Cedar Street with its collection of small office spaces, in addition to his own Tux Towne store of formal wear on Main Street.
Bourassa’s experience, he said, plays an important role in terms of the business venture being successful.
“That’s the difference,” said Bejarano, noting that the convenience store and deli has undergone a number of ownership permutations during the past dozen or so years, dating back before he bought the building.
Bejarano says he and Bourassa have signed a two-year lease agreement for the property — which includes 760 square feet inside the store and 780 square feet in the basement, where Bourassa has his office and stocks merchandise.
Bourassa anticipates he will have spent close to $40,000 making improvements, design changes, and stocking the small store with merchandise in the coming months.
He says he’s already spent $7,000 on his video security system consisting of a video monitor and 32 surveillance cameras, 17 of which he describes as being concealed, “spy cameras.”
He’s also been given six months by the city’s health board to replace two under-performing grease traps, which he estimates will cost $4,000.
Bourassa is dealing with other challenges that affect his bottom line.
He says it will take months for him to work out an agreement with the State Lottery Commission to erase a $5,500 debt incurred by a previous owner.
And Bourassa says he hopes to be able to accept EBT food-stamp cards by the end of the month.
“I’m trying to take care of it as fast as I can. I’ve already turned way $2,000 (in sales) this morning” because of it, he said.
While Bourassa was discussing the matter, a customer walked in and asked if he was accepting EBT cards as payment.
“There are a lot of people around here who use EBT, believe me,” said Kris Belcker, who says he is a patient at the Community Care of Bristol County facility on Cedar Street.
Bourassa said he and his wife, who he says will be helping out, will soon be offering free sandwich delivery, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., to customers throughout the downtown area.
Deli meat, tuna, meatball and other subs range in price from $7 to $9 for a 9-inch sandwich, which is his standard size.
He also sells breakfast sandwiches, salads and a miniature lunch sandwich version on a small Portuguese-style roll called a papo seco.
Bourassa says he buys his rolls early each morning from Taunton’s Art’s International Bakery; he also sells portions of meat on a takeout basis.
Colleen Simmons, director of Taunton’s non-profit Business Improvement District, said she’s trying to arrange a ribbon-cutting event to include Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. and other elected officials.
Simmons said she appreciates the fact that Bourassa is filling a void that existed for more than two months.
Bourassa said he used to work full-time as a hospice health aid.
He decided six years ago to switch full-time to owning and operating smoke shops and convenience stores after an accident resulted in serious injuries to his ankle and knee.
“I couldn’t lift anything,” for at least a year, he said.
“But I’ve never not worked. I’m not a sit-down type of guy,” Bourassa added.
He opened his first smoke shop in a tiny, former hot dog shop on Ashley Boulevard in New Bedford — but later abandoned the venture after the place was twice robbed by a man with a knife and had its windows busted by thieves.
“There’s just too much crime in that town, and it got worse and worse,” he said.
Bourassa says he opened the Middleboro store for his retired father.
He also says two of his children are working with him and his wife in running the businesses, which also includes a seasonal food grill in Rochester’s Gateway to Cape Cod RV Campground.
“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for my family,” he said.
As for the Taunton deli and convenience store, which is open daily from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., Bourassa says he’ll be there seven days a week until it fully gets up to speed.
“If this place fails, it won’t be from a lack of trying,” he said.