Shutting Excello Down Wouldn't Do the Neighborhood Any Good

What are your thoughts on the liquor store? Is it a good thing?

It's a good thing, yeah! It's the only one on the block! I mean, everybody has parties. How many liquor stores do you see in this area, right here on 13th Street? You see Vicky's down there, on 15th Street [and D], and Vicky's been burnt down, and they rebuilt it. That's the only one on the block, so what's the problem?

What they were saying — the guys who live close to it — they're [talking about] the litter, and people hanging out, and [urinating] on their houses, and stuff like that.

[N-A Minit] is closer to the houses than the liquor store is. The liquor store, ain't nothing on that side. Lee [at N-A Minit] sells beer, so what difference does it make?

You're saying that even if Excello didn't sell stuff —

They're gonna be out there anyway. Because you know what they're doing out there. They're out there on Sundays! And the liquor store is closed. Sung [Bang] is a quiet person. He's quiet, he's a church-going guy — he don't try to cheat you out your money. What's the difference between a liquor store and a grocery store next to it?

So what's your solution? They're saying they got this liquor store to agree to clean up, to not sell singles, and all that stuff — that was this neighbor's attempt to try to keep the block cleaner, to keep people from hanging out.

Okay, and [Mr. Bang] stopped selling singles.

But he's still selling those big 24-ounces.

But Lee sells 24s, and 22s and 40s. So what's the difference? Only difference is that Lee don't sell liquor, and the liquor store do. You can go in the liquor store and get a 24. You can go in [N-A Minit] and get a 24. So if he stops selling 24s, you can still go in Lee and get it. That's just more money that Lee's making. You understand what I'm saying? He stopped, so that means Lee's making more money.

And beer make you pee more than damn alcohol do. So [Lee's] got the more piss-problem right there. He sells wine and everything, too. I don't see no difference, Marc, if you really look at it. Say, for instance, if I'm having a party tonight. You want me to get in my car, drive three or four blocks down, when I can just walk around the corner?

So it's good to have it close by, you're saying.

Yeah! What's the difference? It ain't hurting nobody. I mean both of [the two stores] serve the same purpose.

You're saying Excello's not making it any worse —

He's not making it any worse than Lee's making it. Both of them the same. Plus, both of them got people that come out and clean up.

You can't stop nobody from standing outside the store — that's a police job. You're in your store working — you're gonna keep running out the door every five minutes and tell somebody to move from in front of your door? It's a business — it's a store. You can put a sign up, but it's up to the police to make them move. The stores can be closed, and people are still gonna be standing out there. You know what they're doing out there.

Selling?

Yeah. So they're gonna be there regardless — if the liquor's gone or not. So what difference does it make? [The liquor store] closes on Sundays — they're still out there on Sundays. Liquor store closes at 9 o'clock — they're still out there at 12, one in the morning. That's when the trash comes. Then when they come in the morning, everybody cleans it up. They've got their own people to clean it up.

If you close the liquor store down, then we gotta go to Family, all the way down the street, on 8th and H. It's a little cheaper, but by the time you burn gas and go down there, you might as well just walk around the corner. You save 25 cents to drive down there, than to walk right down the street. If I'm having a party, and I run out of something, I'll just run right around the corner. I don't see the sense of closing the liquor store down.

If that's the case, they need to close all of them down. That's not the only liquor store people stand in front of! Any liquor store you go to, somebody's gonna be hanging around. Liquor stores — that's where people hang at. §