Police shut down a Columbia store for being a nuisance. Now the business is fighting to reopen
In August, Columbia police deemed the Main’s Best convenience store a nuisance and permanently closed the business, located at 2132 Main St.
Now, the store is pushing back and getting the courts involved in deciding whether owners Elizabeth and Gregory Peter should be allowed to reopen.
In announcing the business’s August closure, Columbia police said “this location has proven to be a drain on police resources,” in a statement issued at the time.
Police had responded to more than 200 calls for service at the business since January 2021, the statement added. The reasons for those calls ranged from drug possession and distribution, larceny, loitering, urinating and defecating in public, alcohol violations and trash problems.
Prior to deeming Main’s Best a nuisance, Columbia police also wrote to the state’s Alcohol Licensing Division that the store’s alcohol permit license shouldn’t be renewed, stating “it is the opinion of the Columbia Police Department that the Main’s Best Convenience Store has failed to operate and sell alcohol in a responsible manner.”
Elizabeth and Gregory Peter appealed the police department’s decision to Columbia City Manager Teresa Wilson, according to court records.
After an investigation that included testimony from a former employee as well as representatives for the police department, Wilson upheld the department’s original decision to shutter the store, according to a letter signed by Wilson dated Dec. 21, 2022.
According to testimony from one of the convenience store’s former employees, alcohol sales made up 70% of that business’s sales, adding that those sales were a factor in the high volume of police calls to the convenience store.
Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook also testified that calls to Main’s Best were “extremely excessive” compared to similar businesses, according to the court records.
Wilson’s investigation also found that the number and tenor of the calls to Main’s Best met criteria set by city code to deem it a nuisance establishment. More than six citations have been issued at the convenience store for either assault or violation of narcotics law, Wilson’s report notes.
Kelly Smith, business license administrator for the city, also testified during Wilson’s investigation that Main’s Best had not paid its business licensing fee since 2019, according to court records.
Main’s Best is trying again to appeal the city’s decision. On Jan. 20, local attorney James Bradley filed a motion in Richland County court declaring that the city’s reasons for closing Main’s Best were “not supported by facts,” and were “clearly erroneous.” The motion did not elaborate on the facts of the case.
The State has reached out to Bradley for additional comment.
The city has yet to formally respond to the appeal.
