Brotherhood Crusade Banks on Alcohol-Free Convenience Store

Offering an alternative to the hundreds of liquor stores in South-Central Los Angeles, the Brotherhood Crusade opened a convenience store Wednesday that will stock no drink stronger than alcohol-free sparkling cider.

The store opening came as a panel set up by Mayor Tom Bradley after the spring riots submitted a report calling for a moratorium on new liquor stores in South-Central, which has a far greater concentration of the stores than other parts of the county.

The mayor’s task force, which included store owners and critics, also called for the state to allow those who hold liquor licenses in South-Central to transfer them to other counties and for the city to set up workshops to help retrain liquor store owners for other careers.

“There are some really good proposals here,” said Sylvia Castillo, a member of the task force and a leader in the community campaign against liquor stores. “This report won’t change things overnight, but over time it will help make the community better.”

Bradley accepted the report and sent a letter to Anheuser-Busch and other companies producing alcoholic beverages asking for contributions to help compensate store owners who relocate from the riot-torn neighborhoods.

“The task force agreed that the merchants who are agreeing voluntarily to relocate or to convert to another line of business deserve some financial assistance,” said T.S. Chung, the group’s co-chair.

At the Brotherhood Crusade’s new Mom & Pop Community Convenience Store, operators said they are testing whether alcohol is necessary to the operation of such mini-marts in South-Central, as some liquor store owners claim. Customers disagreed over whether the liquor-free venture will succeed.

“I wouldn’t bet my last dollar on them sticking around,” said Jimmie Jackson, 72, who sipped a can of malt liquor outside a liquor store a block away. “Most of the people around here drink alcohol.”

But Coretta Jones, another longtime neighborhood resident, gave the store much better odds. She said she is tired of having to pass by drunks when she shops for her groceries, and welcomes a store that pledges to put its profits back in the community.

“This store is going to be a good neighbor,” she said. “You’ll see me shopping here.”

The new store at 9145 S. Broadway grew out of the rage in the black community over last year’s fatal shooting of 15-year-old Latasha Harlins by a store owner and the widespread feeling that there are too many liquor stores in the city’s poorest neighborhoods.

“The time has clearly come to stop talking about what other people should do for us . . . and begin doing something for ourselves,” said Brotherhood Crusade President Danny Bakewell.

The store will serve as a prototype for the Brotherhood Crusade’s Mom & Pop Economic Development Corp., a nonprofit group that plans to build as many as six more stores in South-Central, the Pico-Union neighborhood and East Los Angeles. Half the new store’s profits will go to develop future sites, while the remaining 50% will be used for the Brotherhood Crusade’s support of African-American community groups.

Analysts say liquor-free stores can succeed but that they must use low prices to overcome brisk beer sales by competitors.

“If the community doesn’t support us we ought to go out of business,” said Bakewell. “I’m betting that the community wants quality, dignity and respect . . . without alcohol.”

Dozens of officials--including Councilmen Mark Ridley-Thomas and Michael Woo and Rebuild L.A. Chairman Peter V. Uberroth--strolled through the store’s aisles Wednesday after a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The store will open to the public at noon Saturday.