Cape Girardeau City Council to take up request for Sunday liquor sales

The Cape Girardeau City Council will consider today the request of Shah Faisal for a special-use permit to sell liquor on Sundays at his Cape Mart convenience store.

The store at 238 N. Fountain St. is in a zoning district that allows all residential uses and limited commercial use with a special-use permit.

Faisal opened the convenience store in March. His original request for a liquor license was denied due to opposition from the surrounding residents who felt that a liquor store would bring increased crime, littering, drug activity and unwanted traffic to the neighborhood.

However, Faisal reapplied for the license a few weeks later. Despite further neighborhood opposition, the council decided to approve the license as a legal nonconforming use because the previous occupant of the location, an organic food store, sold specialty wines and beers.

Since the opening of the convenience store in March, residents say their original fears have been realized, with two armed robberies, increased amounts of trash lining the streets and increased amounts of noise and loitering outside the store.

The council did place one stipulation on the license -- that Faisal could not sell liquor on Sundays. Faisal said that put him at a competitive disadvantage and has since applied for a license that would allow him to sell on Sundays.