By Clarence Cromwell
A Saratogan who lives near the Stop 'N' Save market on Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road is leading a charge to stop the store from adding hard liquor to its inventory.
John "Jack" Mallory, a former City Council member who was named 1995 Citizen of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce, mailed a letter to the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Department on Nov. 15 asking it not to allow the store to sell liquor.
Mallory sent copies of his letter, and a note asking for support, to 50 residents on nearby streets. About 15 of those residents signed a copy of the letter and sent it on to ABC, said Lydia Engdol, district administrator for the San Jose office of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Department.
The neighborhood's three existing liquor stores are enough, Mallory wrote. Putting spirits on the shelves of the shop, next to beer and wine already offered, he said, would attract "a bad crowd" and would bring the liquor and miscreants too close to neighboring homes.
Mallory, a Kirkdale Drive resident for 28 years, said other liquor stores in the area don't appear to cause problems because they all are in Argonaut Shopping Center, away from homes.
"I don't like the fact that a neighborhood store [might be] selling beer, wine and alcohol at all hours," Mallory said. "I think that attracts a bad crowd.
"I don't care for people passing through Saratoga who want to stop and buy liquor. I don't think we want to promote that," he said.
"If we feel a product is bad, we have a right to keep that out of our neighborhood. I feel the same way about video shops that have pornography in them," Mallory said.
The state's liquor-licensing department is listening to the neighborhood concerns.
"The next step is normally a hearing, when they have this many people that are objecting," Engdol said. "The owner will have a chance to say why he feels the license should be issued."
The hearing may be six months away, Engdol said. Until then, a department investigator is asking the letter-writers about their concerns.
At the hearing, a judge could ask the owner to make concessions to neighborhood residents as a condition of getting the permit, or the judge could refuse to issue a permit. One such condition of Stop 'N' Save's current license to sell beer and wine is that the store may not set up video games or other coin-operated amusements. The beer and wine license was not opposed.
Shaan Kapoor, the owner of the Saratoga Stop 'N' Save, was not available for comment at press time.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, Wednesday, December 6, 1995.
©1995 Metro Publishing Inc. All rights reserved.