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Articles
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| Single-sales moratorium begins on H Street |
VOICE writes, "Single-sales moratorium begins on H Street
BY BEN WEINSTEIN
H Street business owners affected by a newly enacted single-sales liquor moratorium say the measure is already hurting sales. But advocates behind the temporary ban say business should rebound.
The three-year ban, which took effect Oct. 1, covers stores from the 700 to the 1500 blocks of H Street, NE, and prohibits sales of single cans and bottles of beer, malt liquor and ale, as well as spirits in containers half a pint and smaller.
"They don't care about another block," said David Shim of Me & My Supermarket. Shim, echoing a common complaint among liquor storeowners, said it's not fair to single out businesses on just one part of H Street. "They should do the whole street. ... If you have problem, it's same problem all over the ward.""
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The day after the ban took effect, Sun & Moon Grocery owner Chung Yull Shin said sales already seemed down. She said several regular patrons walked in, learned they couldn't get singles and left without buying anything. Shin guessed they would shop at stores just off the corridor.
"I have no choice," Me & My manager Shim said. "It's a big problem."
But across the street at Jumbo Liquors, a manager said it's too early to tell whether sales will go down.
Before the rule was enacted, the Northeast Capitol Hill advisory neighborhood commission (ANC 6A), which petitioned for the moratorium, said business owners can thrive if they adapt to the changes.
"I believe that even if there is a slump in business at the beginning, once they begin responding to the market that's there ... sales will increase again," Commissioner Mary Beatty said, adding that her predictions are based on Mount Pleasant's experience with its single-sales moratorium.
During a hearing on the moratorium, Beatty told the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board that several affected liquor stores in Mount Pleasant responded by offering new, higher-priced alcohol products as well as specialty foods.
Mount Pleasant activist Laurie Collins said the whole neighborhood benefited from the new regulations. She told the alcohol board that after the moratorium, Mount Pleasant had less public urination, panhandling, litter and loitering. In an e-mail, Collins also said some stores saw a drop in shoplifting and problems associated with a "troubled clientele."
Collins said not only did no liquor stores go out of business because of the measure, but all the owners supported a four-year extension of the moratorium.
The alcohol board cited Mount Pleasant's experience in approving the H Street moratorium. In its final rulemaking, the board notes that Mount Pleasant saw a significant drop in police calls for quality-of-life crimes associated with public drinking.
Beatty said she doesn't agree that the new moratorium will displace problems to areas off the H Street corridor. She said many of the loiterers who bought singles came from other neighborhoods; she believes problems will be dispersed but will not be as densely concentrated as they are on that stretch of H Street.
A Florida Avenue liquor storeowner, who did not want to be identified by name, said he doesn't expect a big jump in single sales. He said people will find ways to drink what they want. "It's just punishing the owners."
Beatty said the intention of the ban is not to punish storeowners. "We don't think they're bad people or that single sales are a bad thing. ... It was just having such a negative impact on H Street."
Lincoln Hodge, co-owner of Family Liquors, disagreed. He said the moratorium is an effort to drive older businesses off the corridor.
"The liquor stores are being held to a higher standard," Hodge said, adding that efforts to clean up the neighborhood should focus on helping people with substance-abuse and financial problems. "If the ANCs want to help, they would do such things."
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Posted on Oct 08, 2007 22:34pm.
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