Cooper’s will serve American and Mexican-style food. Gemma Flores | Collegian

The new owners of the Shell gas station on 3311 W. Carleton Road plan to open a restaurant called Cooper’s in the attached building in the next two weeks. 

Shukri Abdulla purchased the gas station and adjoining building in April and partnered with George Chamaa to open a restaurant that would provide another food option for the community.

“The first time we came here about four months ago, we noticed that everything here in Hillsdale is burgers and fast food,” Chamaa said. “When we talked with my partner to see what we’re going to open here, finally we told him, ‘No, we have to open something different, like rice bowls.’ A couple of guys came here to the gas station when we were redoing it, and they told us they have to go to Jackson to get rice bowls. That’s why we are going to do it here.”

Cooper’s will serve a mix of American and Mexican cuisine, including protein rice bowls, chicken wings, subs, smash burgers, and barbeque chicken egg rolls, according to Chamaa.

Chamaa currently works as a cashier in the gas station, but will work as head chef once the restaurant opens. After starting a restaurant in Panama with his brother and working as a chef for 20 years across South America and the United States, Chamaa said he is confident Cooper’s will succeed.

“People are really excited,” Chamaa said. “A lot of people come here and ask about the restaurant. They are waiting for us to open.”

Since April, Abdulla’s nephew and business partner Waseam “Sam” Samara has been working to get the gas station off the ground. It had a poor reputation under the former owner, who, The Collegian reported, was charged with 4th degree criminal sexual assault in 2016. 

“The first week when I took over, people were rude and grouchy,” Samara said. “They thought we were related to the old owner, but we’re not at all. I’m Jordanian, and the old owner was Egyptian. Once they knew we’re not related and I was from a different country, that’s when things started becoming uplifting.”

Samara said the gas station was disordered when his uncle bought the two buildings.

“At first, it was dark, dirty, and the shelves were old,” Samara said. “It was empty too — there was no inventory at all. People probably didn’t feel safe walking in. I had one customer from before who said, ‘I only come in because your gas prices are cheap, and I didn’t even want my wife to come in. Now that I know you guys took over, and we got to know you a little bit better, she can come in.’”

Chamaa said they replaced nearly everything in the gas station and restaurant.

“We painted everything,” Chamaa said. “We bought everything new. All the old stuff that used to be in the kitchen we threw into the garbage. We built the kitchen from scratch. It’s a new building.” 

Samara said he has been striving for a family-friendly environment since he began running the gas station.

“We’re not going to have lottery, beer, wine, or liquor,” Samara said. “I feel like that brings in more of a bad environment. Incidents or something bad might happen — we want to try to avoid that.”

Ramy Jagman, another partner of Cooper’s, said he will work with Chamaa in the restaurant until it is established.

“In a successful business, you can have only one chef who’s going to run the show,” Jagman said. “George is the one who came up with the idea. We’re just going to help him out in the beginning in the kitchen if he needs any help, and then once it takes off, he’s going to be running the show.”

Chamaa said he is starting this restaurant because he enjoys his work. 

“I love everything about cooking,” Chamaa said. “I am passionate about it. I don’t know how to do any other thing. I know how to cook Brazilian food, Colombian food, and Panamanian food. I know how to make Italian food, Lebanese food, and now American food.”

Samara said Cooper’s will have dine-in and takeout options. He said he hopes to draw students to his business because youth will shape the future of the area.

“I’m going to try to have the cheapest prices in the whole town,” Samara said. “Because college students are limited on how much they can spend, so anything that saves them matters. I was a college student before, too.”

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