By Carolyn Leal
Despite neighbors' objections, an administrative law judge granted Stop 'n' Save on Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road a state license to sell hard liquor. The store already has a permit to sell beer and wine.
Judge Jeevan Ahuja placed some restrictions on the hard liquor license awarded Oct. 17. The store can use only 20 percent of its space for display and sale of alcohol and cannot advertise hard liquor in window or exterior signs. No alcoholic beverages can be displayed within five feet of the cash register or the front door unless contained in a permanently affixed cooler. In addition, sales of food and other goods must exceed the sale of alcoholic beverages.
Saratogan Jack Mallory was one of several residents who objected to the new liquor license. "We do not like the idea of a store selling liquor in our neighborhood," he said. "There are stores close by in Argonaut Shopping Center that sell alcohol."
The City Council also opposed the sale of hard liquor at the convenience store and sent a letter in February to the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control stating the city's objections.
At the time, Mayor Paul Jacobs said, "The council, in general, is not anxious to have more liquor sold in the city than is already being sold. We're not prohibitionists. The issue is not banning alcohol. The question is, 'Do we want it here?' "
Mallory said the sale of alcohol is controlled by the state. "California beverage merchants are a powerful lobby, contributing hundreds of dollars to political campaigns," he said.
Local government, not the state, should control whether a store sells alcoholic beverages, he said. "We're not taking a position against alcohol," Mallory said. "It's just there's enough of it in the city already."
Mallory, a former councilmember, was named 1995 Citizen of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce.
The small shopping center housing Stop 'n' Save at Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road and Seagull Way also contains a tuxedo-rental shop and a dry-cleaning establishment.
Stop 'n' Save owner Jagjeet Kapoor declined to comment on the state liquor license.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, December 11, 1996.
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