Beloved Coconut Grove Convenience Store Closes After 30 Years

Another piece of old Coconut Grove is disappearing as redevelopment reshapes the neighborhood’s familiar corners. After three decades serving Coconut Grove, Grand 7th, the longtime convenience store many locals still called Kwik Stop, has closed its doors.

Owner Firas Hussain confirmed that February 19 marked the shop’s final day as the property prepares for changes connected to the upcoming Ziggurat mixed-use development along Grand Avenue. Hussain remained on-site last week as he cleared out his space, bringing to an end a 30-year run that transformed a simple corner store into a daily gathering place for generations of Grove residents.

The closure reflects a broader shift unfolding across Coconut Grove, where longtime local institutions are increasingly making way for large-scale projects.

But for Hussain, the store was never just a business.

“For me, coming to work never really felt like work,” he says. “Even late nights, it felt like being part of something. It wasn’t just a store. It was a place where life happened.”

From College Job to Grove Institution

Hussain’s journey began as a college student working part-time in convenience stores before eventually taking over the former 7-Eleven on Grand Avenue in the mid-1990s. Over time, he reshaped the space into something distinctly local, layering in services that reflected the Grove’s evolving needs. He even raised his daughter, Aya Hamza, at the store, who grew up helping her dad and loving the store.

In 2013, he subleased the kitchen to Asian Thai Kitchen, creating an unlikely food destination inside a convenience store. Five years later, Grand 7th added a pharmacy, which became a lifeline during the pandemic, offering vaccines, prescriptions, and essentials when access elsewhere was limited.

“We were part of people’s daily lives,” Hussain says. “During COVID (lockdown era), we were one of the only places open. That’s when you really feel connected to a neighborhood.”

A Store Built on Familiar Faces

Born in Baghdad, Iraq, Hussain built the store around a simple idea: familiarity matters. Regulars came in daily. Kids grew up around the counter. Neighbors lingered longer than they planned.

“A lot of customers became friends,” he says. “I watched kids grow up, go to Coconut Grove Elementary, and come back as adults. That’s when you realize you’re part of the neighborhood.”

But the Coconut Grove Hussain once knew when he originally opened the store is no longer the same.

“The soul of the Grove is changing,” he says. “I still love it, but it’s going in a different direction. Rents started rising, and that’s when you began seeing small businesses pushed out.”

The Changing Soul of Coconut Grove

His sentiment echoes a broader shift that longtime residents have watched unfold in recent years, as legacy businesses close and redevelopment reshapes the neighborhood’s commercial core.

Local resident Alaina Sanders sees that tension playing out across the Grove. While she understands the appeal of new investment, she hopes the neighborhood does not lose what made it feel distinct in the first place. She says she still prefers “local small businesses over big-box retail” and hopes future development keeps the Grove feeling “small and quaint.”

For Hussain, the changes are complicated. He understands growth is inevitable, but believes identity is harder to rebuild once it disappears.

“You can’t just replace everything,” he says. “Places like this are part of the Grove’s identity. If you lose all of that, you lose what made it special.”

A New Era Rising Nearby

Just blocks away, one of the Grove’s most debated developments is already signaling how dramatically the neighborhood may change in the coming years. The Ziggurat project, a luxury mixed-use development planned along Grand Avenue, will anchor a sweeping redesign of nearby Fuller Street beginning in summer 2026.

The project, led by the Allen Morris Company and designed by Oppenheim Architecture, will introduce trophy office space, ultra-luxury residences, new retail, and a pedestrian paseo connecting Fuller Street to Kirk Munroe Park. City officials and developers say the multi-million-dollar transformation will create greener public spaces and improve walkability.

But among longtime residents, the plan has sparked anxiety about whether Coconut Grove’s famously laid-back character can survive rapid redevelopment. Fuller Street, once a quiet pedestrian corridor where neighbors gathered casually and kids lingered after school, has become symbolic of what many call “old Grove” energy. Some fear the redesign could shift the area toward a more commercial, curated environment resembling denser parts of Miami.

The debate reflects a larger question facing the neighborhood as legacy businesses like Grand 7th disappear: whether growth can coexist with the sense of familiarity that defined the Grove for decades.

Saying Goodbye to a Corner of the Grove

While he operates other stores elsewhere in Miami, Hussain says reopening in the Grove would be difficult. The mix of students, residents, nightlife, and foot traffic that made Grand 7th work is hard to replicate.

“It’s hard to find another location like this,” he says. “You need the right combination, and that’s rare.”

In these final days, Hussain finds himself reflecting less on business and more on memory. Hurricanes, late-night rushes, and everyday conversations are all tied to a single address.

“We’ve been through everything in those walls,” he says. “It’s not just work. It’s a big part of my life.”

After 30 years behind the counter, Hussain is not just closing a store. He is stepping away from a chapter that helped define a corner of Coconut Grove.

“It wasn’t just a job for me,” he says. “It was my life.”

Grand 7th. 3135 Grand Ave., Miami. Now closed.