New Agreement Needed For N-A Minit, Excello

I have been reading about Excello's liquor license renewal over the past two weeks in the Corner Forum. Today, I decided to visit the store, examine the property and speak with the owner.

First, I noticed signs on each of the refrigerator doors saying "NO SALES OF SINGLES ALLOWED" (or something like this). This is, of course, in direct contradiction to the picture on the front of the Corner Forum dated April 21, 2003. I spoke with the owner, who said:

1. He has a limited understanding of English,

2. He signed the neighborhood agreement not understanding the terms,

3. He has not sold singles in his store for over two years,

4. He is losing a lot of money not being able to sell singles, and

5. The N-A Minit store continues to sell singles to his business disadvantage.

Due to the owner's stated lack of English skills, I didn't discuss the other points of the neighborhood agreement he signed in December of 2001.

Next I visited the owner of the N-A Minit store and discussed the issue with her. Specifically, I asked her if she had any plans to stop selling singles in the future.

She said that she and the owner of Excello were "talking" and that something would be known soon.

I asked her if this meant she was going to stop selling singles and she said, "we'll talk tonight at the ANC meeting and then we are going to work on a deal between Excello and us."

I have two major concerns surrounding the renewal of Excello's license:

1. It is clear that Excello has recently taped up 12-pack containers of beer that were previously split open to sell singles (as evidenced by your photo on April 21, 2003). This appears to me to be in clear violation of the agreement reached with the neighborhood in December 2001. What is worse is that they are apparently making hasty arrangements in the store to hide the fact that they were selling singles very recently. This apparent attempt at covering up their sales of beer is disturbing and makes it difficult to believe that they will continue to honor the agreement in the future.

2. While Excello may be in violation of their agreement, it is also apparent that a contributing factor to the many concerns voiced by other residents regarding public urination, loitering and property damage is the sale of single beer products by N-A Minit. The selection of malt beverages, single bottles of beer, etc., at N-A Minit is extensive and, according to the owner in a discussion on April 28, 2003, N-A Minit makes most of its alcohol profit "by selling singles." According to the owner, the profit on a six-pack is only "fifty cents to a dollar," versus "much more" on singles. When asked if N-A Minit would consider stopping sales of its single beers, the owner dodged the question and instead alluded to some "agreement" that was on the horizon between Excello and N-A Minit.

It seems that if the goal is to reduce loitering, public urination, littering and property damage caused by the sale of singles, we must also consider that N-A Minit is selling the same products. In fact, based on my cursory review of the stores on April 28, N-A Minit offers a much larger variety of these products.

One solution to address this problem is to renegotiate a new neighborhood agreement with both Excello and N-A Minit. This agreement could seek to ameliorate some of the concerns in the neighborhood while respecting the need for these businesses to remain profitable.

For example, a phaseout of sales of all single beers might be one item that could be addressed. Failure to reach an acceptable agreement with the parties might result in negotiation with Excello alone, as its permit is up for renewal.

Of course, failure to reach any agreement might be an excellent justification for an official challenge to Excello's beverage permit. Hopefully this challenge would send a strong message to N-A Minit that this neighborhood is serious about reducing the problems associated with sales of beer of this type.

I am not so naive as to think that elimination of single beer sales will solve all the problems in our neighborhood. Persistent dumping in our alleys and the flagrant sales of drugs on our street corners will require a concerted effort from the community and a serious commitment by the MPD to patrol this area. This being said, our neighborhood can only assert itself one step at a time, and the license renewal of Excello provides an excellent opportunity to talk about these issues as a community.

It is my recommendation that Excello, N-A Minit and interested residents meet immediately to discuss the possibility of drafting a new neighborhood agreement that will apply to both stores. If the parties do not wish to do this, it is my intention to join any other resident in an official challenge to Excello's permit now, and N-A Minit's permit when it is up for renewal.

Anyone that would like to discuss this issue, or who may have additional information that I do not have, should feel free to email me at cpriest@law.gwu.edu. §