So convenient: New store full of vending machines opening in Billings

Jun 05, 2023

BILLINGS — A new fully self-service convenience store is coming to Billings at 1108 Broadwater Ave. Snack Time Market won't have long checkout lines because instead of cashiers, the store is full of automated vending machines.

The owner of Snack Time Market, Allan Ness, has been dreaming of opening a convenience store for four years and is now close to making that dream a reality. He plans to open the business at the beginning of May.

"[It has] 25 vending machines, which equals about 1,000 products...Essentially everything you could find in a convenience store. From pizza products to Monster drinks to Advil," Ness said. "We’re so excited to serve the community and try something different."

Ness said he owns other businesses in Billings, so when he wanted to open a convenience store his main concern was finding staff to work. That is when he thought of the perfect solution: vending machines that can take multiple forms of payment.

The store will need to have at least one employee present when open, and Ness said all of his businesses are family owned and operated and this will be no different. Ness said the savings of not paying many employees will be passed down to customers.

"We just don't have that overhead. So, I think you’ll find things that are a quarter, or 50 cents, or 65 cents cheaper than the gas station on a lot of our products," Ness said. "The people of Billings will, my guess is will welcome it with open arms. They won't know exactly what it is at first but once they come in and they realize they can get anything they want just like a convenience store, I think it’ll go over well."