These groups are putting pressure on local officials to deny permits for new stores. In cities like Oakland, Chicago and New York, clergy and community activists are also working to cut down the flow from the liquor pipeline in efforts that began long before the riots. Under attack, however, is more than just the corner liquor store in South Central, where heightened racial tensions between blacks and the Koreans who own many of the stores made the outlets a particular target during the riots. So far, only 10 of the stores have permission to rebuild. Now, the groups have banded together to block, or at least slow down, the rebuilding of the 200 liquor stores that were damaged or destroyed in the riots. Chung's in neighborhoods here - and with liquor industry marketing and advertising campaigns that many say have fostered a permissive atmosphere toward drinking. Political, community and drug prevention groups have long been frustrated with the high concentration of liquor stores like Mr. It is a rich franchise for manufacturers and distributors, in large part because it is the biggest market for such powerful but inexpensive drinks as malt liquor and fortified wine.īut it is a franchise that is increasingly under siege. In fact, liquor stores have done so well in urban centers that before the spring riots, South Central, with a population of 500,000, had nearly three times as many outlets - 728 - as Rhode Island, which has 1.3 million people and 280 liquor stores.įor the liquor industry as a whole, the stores here - and thousands of others like them around the country - are the end point of what amounts to a multibillion-dollar pipeline into the nation's inner cities. There is perhaps no other inner-city business that has been as lucrative as liquor. Like similar stores, T S Liquor makes a 20 percent profit on food and other merchandise and a 30 to 40 percent profit on alcohol, Mr. Chung, a 58-year-old Korean immigrant, invested his money wisely when he purchased the store five years ago. They leave, grinning, with six bottles.īy his own account, Mr. "How ya feeling today, papa-san," yells a woman, buying a 40-ounce bottle of beer at 11:30 A.M., to the store's owner, Ui Man Chung, who smiles and pats her on the shoulder.Ī few minutes later, two young men take advantage of the store's weekly special: a 16-ounce bottle of Colt 45 malt liquor for 90 cents. to its closing 12 hours later, a steady stream of customers calls. And, of course, liquor - a lot of it.įrom the time T S opens at 9 A.M. T S LIQUOR does a brisk business on Jefferson Avenue in South Central Los Angeles, where the small, tidy store sells everything from diapers and panty hose to eggs and tortillas.
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