Store’s proposed beer, wine license cause for neighbors’ concern

A Macon convenience store and its neighbors are at odds again because of the store’s plans to sell beer and wine.

Rajiv Gulati, who recently took over R and R Food Mart on Clayton Street, applied last week for a beer and wine license at the store, which was once Bateman & Wade grocery store. Plans to pursue a license at that location have met resistance from residents of the Vineville neighborhood, but Gulati said none of them has talked to him.

“If somebody comes and talks to me ... I’ll make sure nobody has any problems,” he said.

Concerns have centered on the thought that beer and wine contributed to both loitering and littering in the neighborhood surrounding the store. Gulati, who recently moved to the area from Kentucky, said he’d already been working to cut down on the number of people staying too long at the storefront.

“I go and tell them, ‘Please don’t hang out over here,’ ” Gulati said.

Attorney Lars Anderson, who lives a few houses down from the store on Rogers Avenue, said he was among the group of neighbors who have opposed the license. He said the past few years of the store’s existence have amounted to a “history of failure” under current ownership, as people were allowed to drink and hang out around the store, later leaving their trash behind.

“They have exercised little or no control over their store or the parking lot,” Anderson said.

He added that he’s even seen drug deals take place around the store without interference from ownership or management.

Gulati said he’d try to resolve any issues himself, but he was open to community suggestions.

“If I need to hire somebody for security, I’ll do that, too,” he said.

Tax records indicate that Krunal Patel remains the building’s owner after buying it in 2013. During that time frame, several people have been brought in to run the store with little change in how disturbances are handled, Anderson said.

“This store just has not lived up to the responsibility that goes along with the privilege” of selling alcohol, he said.

Gulati is listed as the “CEO, CFO and secretary” of R and R Food Mart Inc., which incorporated with the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office in June. Anderson added that neither he nor the Vineville neighborhood homeowners group has heard from Gulati regarding the license concerns.

The complaints of neighbors will be a factor in approving or denying the store’s application, according to an email from Bibb County Sheriff David Davis. After a background check and investigation by his office, Davis acts as the first step of approval for alcohol licenses before the Macon-Bibb County Commission and the mayor.

“We continue to receive comments from neighbors voicing their opposition to this business obtaining an alcohol license,” Davis wrote. “Those comments will be taken into consideration as I review the application.”

Not being approved for beer or wine would be a hindrance to business, and Gulati said he’d have a hard time keeping his store open without those sales. Anderson said other nearby businesses that have alcohol licenses provide a location for beer and wine purchases, so the neighborhood doesn’t necessarily need the R and R Foodmart to thrive.

“Quite frankly, there’s no economic need for it,” Anderson said.

This story was originally published September 13, 2016 at 6:09 PM with the headline "Store’s proposed beer, wine license cause for neighbors’ concern."