Al Patel came of age in a vibrant, rural village in Gujarat, India nearly 8,000 miles from Northeastern PA. By all indications, Al’s childhood varied little from most kids you know – playing outside, hanging out with friends, begrudgingly going to school and summers at the Temple. He attended high school and college in Gujarat and, in 1994, at just 22 years old, he made the journey to join his sister in the U.S.

Al landed in northern New Jersey, where he lived with his sister’s family and began working in a convenience store. He credits this line of work and meeting customers from all over with helping him learn English. Well, that and watching cartoons. In 2006, after nearly a decade in the U.S., an opportunity presented itself and he seized it. Al bought his first convenience store in Elmhurst, PA. You may know it as AL’s Quick Stop.

Soon after, he moved with his wife and two daughters to Dunmore. The Patels settled in, fell in love with the schools and the community and never looked back. Today, Al owns and operates a successful chain of 12 stores throughout Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe and Wayne Counties. He also serves as President of the Indo-American Community of Scranton, the PA Small Business Retailer Association Chamber of Commerce and as Executive Director for the Lackawanna County Democratic Committee.

We recently caught up with Al at his central business headquarters in Dunmore. He shared the story of his journey from India and nearly 20 years building a life for his family and his community here in Northeastern PA. And somewhere in between, we popped in a few questions, like Why NEPA?

How long have you lived in NEPA?

From 2006 until now. 19 years. This September will make it 20 years.

What do you love about your town?

I love Dunmore. Where I live and where the kids go to school are so close. Everything is so close. And you know everybody here. In many bigger cities, you don’t have that. Every year, I do the 4th of July – right here at my house. I block everything off and we usually get like 500 to 600 people. And I’ve been doing that since 2012. So, I’ve gotten to know everybody over the years. It’s really fun. Everyone has a good time. I really enjoy doing it, and getting to know my community.

It’s just a great town and we really love it. And if I can ever help the community with anything like a festival or something like that, I do it.

What’s your favorite NEPA restaurant?

Oooh! That’s a good one! I go to Isabella. I love it. I go maybe twice or even three times a week. Plus, all the meetings happen there as well. I also think Bar Pazzo is really good. New Amber Indian Restaurant in Moosic is a favorite as well. Another good one is Zupadi in Kingston. They have really good food and they’re really nice people. And if you go there a lot, they’ll know exactly how to make your favorite just for you.

And there’s also a really nice pizza place called Kay’s Pizza in Carbondale. We like the no sauce – just two or three different cheeses and lots of spices. And you can get it really hot with jalapeño, habanero. However hot you want it.

What’s your favorite thing to do in NEPA?

Besides work? Ok. I love to be a part of the community. I go to everybody’s house, if they need something, I ask what it is and I make sure they get what they need. We call our community The Indo-American Community of Scranton. I do all the festivals – Navratri, Holi, our Independence Day, Diwali. We do all of those festivals for the community. I am also in politics. I bring people out and show them how to register to vote and where to go to vote.

What’s next for you?

For me, I have a lot of businesses to look after. I have all the stores here in Northeastern Pennsylvania, and a company in New York. I have a mobile company in Colorado. I am working with a tech company making assistive technology for the elderly. It’s called Smardii. With the device, you can monitor patients without having to wake them up in the middle of the night. It’s a very useful and helpful technology for nursing homes and healthcare situations.

Where do you see NEPA heading in the future?

Northeastern Pennsylvania, I think, is better than any other region because we can easily go to Boston, New York, Canada, Connecticut, New Jersey – everything is near us. We have the Pocono Mountains and everything is so close to Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties to Monroe, Wayne and Pike, it’s all close by each other.

And if the train comes to Northeastern PA from New York, it’s all going to be close for a lot of people. It would create really good opportunities for the people, and it will help us create more housing, which is what we need. We have added so much to our economy – warehouses and distribution – in just the last five years in Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties. It’s just always growing.

Why NEPA?

I bought my first location in Elmhurst and I fell in love with the area. And once my kids started going to school here, they didn’t want to go anywhere else. So, the most important thing, for me, is where my family is happy. I want to stay there. As long as we are all happy with what we’re doing – work, school, our community, we want to stay there. Northeastern Pennsylvania gave me a lot of opportunities. The people have helped us a lot. Without that help from the community, I am nothing. And that’s why I love giving back.