TYLER, Texas — A convenience store in Tyler is now able to sell alcohol after the city council initially denied the store's permit to sell beer or wine in March.
The council voted no because Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission rules say any business that sells alcohol has to be at least 300 feet away from a school. Bell Elementary is 290 feet away from the store, located at 1527 E 5th St. in Tyler.
"That was quite shocking for me because we have loans, we have mortgage, we have bills," said store owner Kalwaljit Singh.
Singh opened the store in May. When he applied for the permit, he didn't know it was under 300 feet away from Bell Elementary.
"(The) school is behind my store, behind houses, behind one road," Singh said.
It wasn’t until two weeks ago that he was able to put alcohol on his shelves. Singh had to move his lot line over 10 feet.
"What they had to do to do that was get a surveyor to move the lot line along the two properties and that had to be approved by the city and it was," said City of Tyler Planning Director Kyle Kingma.
In a city council meeting in March, Mayor Don Warren spoke about other businesses that were approved to sell alcohol less than 300 feet away from a school or church.
"I think we have set a precedent of having tolerance and not just saying. We're 10 feet short, we're not getting it," Warren said in March.
Kingma said this is one of the situations that wasn't approved. Most business approvals are looked on a case-by-case basis.
"The ones that were approved, if I recall, were all restaurants. It’s atypical for the variances to be approved for other types of establishments," Kingma said.
Since getting permit approval, Singh thanked city officials and anyone who helped him get the permit.
Singh owns other convenience stores in the area and alcohol sales average about 30% of his sales, which is a driving factor in his business.
"(Customers) will go to other stores. When they will go to other stores to buy beer, they will buy chips there and buy everything else there," Singh said.
Despite the property line getting moved and the delay in revenue, Singh said he’s excited to grow in Tyler and provide his business to the community.