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| 20 July 2000 - The San Diego North County Times 99-cent store seeks liquor license By Jo Moreland OCEANSIDE – A request by a 99-Cents Only store in the city to sell beer and wine is under fire from groups seeking to reduce alcohol abuse. Members of the Tri-City Prevention Collaborative of Vista and the Communities Against Substance Abuse in El Cajon surveyed people for an hour Wednesday to get their reaction in the shopping center where the store is, at 1036 Mission Ave. "We haven't done anything quite like this before" said Erica Leary, Tri-City Prevention spokeswoman. "Our main issue is that increasing the availability in general is related to increasing the problems." Of 71 people surveyed Wednesday at the shopping center, she said, 61 said the store shouldn't sell alcohol products, nine people said the store should be able to sell them and one person wasn't sure. Sixty people signed copies of a letter asking the Oceanside Police Department to deny the application, Leary said. She said those will be sent to the department, which is accepting public input now from local merchants and residents. Henry Miller, the marketing director for the 99-cent store chain primarily located in Southern California, said about 40 of the stores have alcohol licenses. None of the chain's eight stores in San Diego County have licences but they have been requested. "We certainly understand the concern, but based on experience and history, we don't think there's going to be a problem," Miller said. The Oceanside store is across the street from Oceanside High School. Miller said the chain has stores across from high schools in Huntington Beach and El Monte and there haven't been any problems. The store is in a census tract that would normally be allowed three alcohol licenses, based on state Alcoholic Beverage Control standards, and there are already nine licenses in the tract, said Leary. She said the crime rate for the area is 490 percent higher than the city average, the extra sales license isn't a necessity and research shows that teens buy alcohol at lower prices. "Cheap booze is a problem for preventing underage drinking," she said. The 99-Cents Only stores sell beer and wine only as it becomes available in special situations such as close-outs, oversupply or labeling errors, Miller said. He said the stores don't sell any fortified wines, have no regular lines of beer or wine, and nothing is sold cold. Article Snapshot (79K) |
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