By admin 
Forest Acres leaders are asking a judge to block a beer and wine permit for a newly renovated convenience store at the edge of Trenholm Park, arguing the park and a nearby daycare make it an unsuitable location, and that allowing more alcohol sales there could undermine work being done to shape the surrounding area into a neighborhood gathering place described in court as “special” but, “fragile.”
Read more Evette on SC gov run: ‘I don’t play that could have, would have, should have’
The dispute also touches on broader questions that have surfaced elsewhere around Columbia, where residents and law enforcement have challenged some convenience stores over concerns about alcohol sales, crime, and how residents say the stores can impact neighborhoods.
But the applicant, 26-year-old University of South Carolina Ph.D. student Jasdeep Singh, says his store at 4424 Bethel Church Rd. would benefit the community by filling an abandoned space and by giving Trenholm Park’s visitors a place to buy things like water and Gatorade.
South Carolina Administrative Law Judge Phillip Lenski heard testimony from both sides during a hearing over the beer and wine permit Aug. 5, and said he expects to issue a decision soon.
The disputed location
Singh’s business Bethel Church Road Mini Mart sits at the intersection of Bethel Church and Covenant roads, in a small pocket surrounded by tree-lined neighborhood streets and several apartment complexes. Next door is a daycare center, and behind it is Trenholm Park, where hundreds of families gather for Little League games and other activities.
The intersection is part of Forest Acres’ Covenant Crossing district. Once the industrial hub of that area in its past life as the Landrum-Stork brickyard, today the area is a mixed-bag, with “family-centric” services like the park and daycare, but also the area with the highest police call volume in the roughly 10,500 person city, Forest Acres Police Chief Don Robinson testified.
It’s also the focus of a promised renewal, where leaders say they see coffee shops and restaurants. The City Council has recently passed zoning rules meant to help shape that vision, including restrictions on alcohol sales.
“If this business does proceed, the standards are going to be high, and they need to be high,” Forest Acres Councilman Stephen Oliver told the court Wednesday. “We don’t want blight. We don’t want trouble. We’re trying to turn that area around, and alcohol and wine sales are not ideal.”
He added that there are already nearby businesses that sell alcohol, and the area doesn’t need another.
Singh is leasing a former Circle K that has been vacant since at least 2021, Google satellite images show. The store languished for years until Singh recently opened the mini mart — a clear improvement, his attorney Jake Moore argued during the Aug. 5 hearing.
“Certainly, a closed building, vacant for a long period of time, is something that leads to decay in neighborhoods, isn’t it?” Moore asked Robinson, the police chief. Robinson was among the people who protested Singh’s liquor license, representing the city’s police department.
Moore added that Singh intends to operate the store responsibly with security cameras, bright lighting and electronic ID scanners.
Vital to success?
Singh, a USC graduate student pursuing a Ph. D in applied mathematics, wanted to open the Bethel Church Road store as an entrepreneurial endeavor after helping out in his father’s Columbia-area convenience stores, he said in court.
The property owner he is leasing from spent $500,000 renovating the building, he said, and he borrowed $100,000 from his parents to stock the store.
Read more Vote on town attorney could set up new clash between Chapin mayor, town council
“He wants to go into business,” Moore said of Singh. “The store cannot succeed without the beer and the wine sales to complement the other matters.”
One resident who sat through the hearing after initially opposing Singh’s license, told the court he changed his mind after learning more about him.
“After ball games, it was nice to be able to go over there and buy water and buy sports drinks,” said nearby resident James Kirk, of the former store at the property.
Another resident, Bryan Willis, spoke against the store, saying he worried allowing the store to sell alcohol would lead to public drinking and problems at the nearby park.
“Selling beer increases the traffic in that area, the noise … just by having late night activity,” he said.
Arguments made in court
In addition to its vision for the area, Forest Acres leaders raised several other concerns about allowing the mini mart to sell alcohol.
Robinson in a written statement said that over his career, he had seen “a strong connection between alcohol sales and criminal activity.”
He described the surrounding area as the city’s busiest for police calls, and said stores that sell alcohol can also become a target for robberies and other crime.
The issue of whether Singh would sell single-serve beer cans also came up. The Columbia Police Department has raised that issue in the past as well, asking some stores where call volume is high to stop selling the singles. Singh, when asked by Forest Acres attorney William Dillard, said his business would be impacted if he didn’t sell those items.
Robinson also cited a 2025 shooting at The Landings apartment complex nearby that forced the evacuation of Trenholm Park during a Little League game, saying it underscored the importance of protecting the area.
Moore, Singh’s attorney, pushed back on the line of reasoning, saying his client is not responsible for crimes that occurred elsewhere, and that he should be judged on his own record, not that of other stores.
Forest Acres police also initially believed Singh’s family might be connected to the DCP Convenience Store just around the corner, where police documented several underage alcohol sales between 2021 and 2023.
During court, however, Singh testified that his family had no connection to that store, only that the store’s owner had the same name as his father.
Read more SC’s Fry and Graham PAC trade jabs in U.S. Senate race. What’s true?