Automated Convenience: Market Twenty 4 Seven #941 at Oakland Community College (#6)

Small self-service convenience stores are an interesting concept, and they've seen lots of expansion over the years. Micromarkets, as they're called, have opened in thousands of office buildings and medical centers since the mid-2010s, offering quick (and overpriced) bites to eat for employees and patients. In recent years, micromarkets have begun opening on college campuses as well.

Oakland Community College saw the opening of a Market Twenty 4 Seven micromarket at each of its five campuses this fall. Market Twenty 4 Seven is the flagship brand of Continental, an Oakland County-based vending company. By a stroke of luck, I happened to be on OCC's Orchard Ridge campus on its Market Twenty 4 Seven's opening day, September 15th.

Orchard Ridge's Market Twenty 4 Seven is located near the cafeteria on the first floor of building J, the student center.

It's among the smallest microstores I've seen, in a space that formerly contained a row of vending machines. At one end is the checkout kiosk, and at the other is a microwave (for heating the Easy Mac or ramen they sell) and a coffee machine. This store sells a locally-produced brand of coffee, though oddly enough the location at the Royal Oak campus offers Starbucks instead.

Five coolers contain a pretty run-of-the-mill selection of soda, juice, energy drinks, bottled tea and water, plus a handful of packaged sandwiches and other grab-and-go lunches. Chips, candy, granola bars, packaged pastries, and beef jerky round out this Market Twenty 4 Seven's selection. 

The locations in OCC's other campuses are larger. The Auburn Hills micromarket takes up the former cafeteria serving line, and the Highland Lakes campus market, which opened on August 27th, is in a larger, more "store-like" space.

I have to give Continental credit for including some local products, even though they themselves are local. Dearborn brand sausage features prominently among the beef jerky, and the prepackaged meals come from "The Kitchen, Inc." of Sterling Heights.

What really hinders the success of Market Twenty 4 Seven, in my opinion, is the checkout. For one, the single self-checkout kiosk isn't enough for peak demand. During the lunch rush, it's not uncommon to see five or more students lined up to pay. That wouldn't be a problem... if not for the delays in operation.

Only two methods of payment are accepted: major credit cards and Market Twenty 4 Seven's own keytag-sized rechargeable card. Cash can only be used to add value to the in-house card. A name and email address are required to open an account, and an activation link in email must be clicked before it's used. Add on a finicky bill acceptor and you can probably see now how the checkout gets tied up...

Thankfully, once you've got an account, checking out is a breeze, just scan your items and card and you're out the door- that is, if the scanner picks up the barcodes properly. Some locations even offer fingerprint identification for payment. The user interface is plenty quick and easy to use, with large icons, especially when you cancel an order...

Above the kiosk is a display showing a live feed from a couple of the store's numerous security cameras. I guess this is to deter anyone from stealing, assuring them that if they try, they'll be caught on camera. Along with the camera views is a mirror of what's shown on the kiosk. I'm not crazy about it displaying names and email addresses entered for all to see, but then again it might be easier for others to see PII on the much larger display on the kiosk itself.

Another issue is that some of the coolers have electronic locks that seem to engage for no reason. If you want a Mile High Breakfast Burrito, you're out of luck if there's a red light on the cooler door. I've found myself unable to access the chilled snacks within on a couple of occasions, just in the past month or so since opening. Decals on the doors hint that they lock if left open too long, but try as I might, I wasn't able to get them to lock from extended opening, even when I kept them open double the suggested time. 

In partnership with FritoLay, Market Twenty 4 Seven is giving away cash prizes to customers who purchase qualifying chips and Grandma's cookies.

All in all, I like the micromarket concept, and I hope they iron out the issues, and add a second kiosk to the Orchard Ridge location. Having one of these at your place of work can be pretty convenient when you need a quick bite to eat, with better selection than a vending machine. There's also a lot of potential for integration with other systems here, such as in a transit station, where you could pay for your food with your transit card, or even with college payment cards like OCC's existing Raider Card.

In any case, I'm sure OCC's students will be glad to have a one-stop food shop at their disposal. It's definitely a convenient place to get a quick bite to eat.

Thanks for shopping Oakland County Retail! Next week's post will feature Market Twenty 4 Seven's neighbor at Orchard Ridge, the campus bookstore.