A convenience store owner embattled with the City of Cartersville over his alcohol license was issued a warning with no additional penalties by the city alcohol board Wednesday.
Muhammed Chishti, owner of Easy Trip No. 3 on West Avenue, appeared before the board with his attorney Hunter Grayson Oswald Smith regarding a second citation on alcohol in his store. The citation was issued last month alleging the store failed to keep alcohol inaccessible and non-visible to the public after the city council suspended sales for 90 days in February. For more on that story, go here.
The store originally was cited because an employee sold alcohol to an underaged person in a police sting. The council issued harsher penalties after Chishti failed to show up at an alcohol board meeting regarding his citation. That story can be found here.
Smith argued that Chishti was doing his best to follow the rules. He called distributors to pick up the alcohol but that was a long process. He said alcohol was removed from the floor and put in the only storage space in the store behind the coolers, that signs were posted according to city rules, and that bags were placed over alcohol in storage so the public couldn’t see them.
City code enforcement officers Donna Fritz and Erick Sturges made daily visits to the store and told the board they saw improvements, but that alcohol products were still within reach of the public when they reached into the coolers. They said they issued the citation because it appeared store employees weren’t being honest about removing the alcohol, saying it was being picked up the next day on several occasions.
All alcohol was either picked up by distributors or destroyed by March 11, according to both Smith and the code enforcement officers. Chishti said he lost between $4,000 to $5,000 in product that had to be destroyed because distribution companies wouldn’t take it back. The city ordinance states alcohol in these situations must be returned or destroyed.
Alcohol board members pointed out the ordinance doesn’t give an exact time that all alcohol must be removed and stated that Chishti appeared to be making efforts to follow the council’s directive. The end result was a warning.
Easy Trip No. 3 will be allowed to sell alcohol again May 24.
Melody Dareing is a freelance writer for publications in the U.S, Canada, the UK and Germany. She is a former news director of Adelphia Channel 4 and WBHF Radio. She is on Facebook, X, YouTube, content on Substack, and has a podcast on Rumble.