By admin 
A new mini mart in Forest Acres is allowed to sell beer and wine, a judge has ruled, despite protests from Forest Acres leaders and several residents.
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The Bethel Church Mini Mart at 4424 Bethel Church Road is located just outside Trenholm Park, where a large Little League club plays. City leaders say they are worried about how alcohol can influence crime, particularly in an area where police call volume is high, but also where a lot of children and families gather.
One leader called the area “special” but “fragile,” given its mix of “family” amenities, apartments and neighborhoods, and police concerns.
At the same time, residents who patronize the stores said they don’t think selling beer and wine is necessarily bad for the neighborhood. The mini mart’s owner, Jasdeep Singh, in court said he will add to the area by selling things like water and Gatorade for park visitors, and that he saw a chance to open a store in a location that had been vacant for years.
A spokesperson for the city of Forest Acres in a statement said the city respects the court process, but also believed “the surrounding neighborhood’s character and unique circumstances should be given appropriate consideration.”
The statement said residents “expressed strong opposition to another alcohol vendor,” and also noted that the area is a “particularly sensitive location,” given its proximity to neighborhoods and the park.
“Our responsibility is to listen to our residents, advocate for the community and use every tool available to us to protect the character and quality of life of Forest Acres neighborhoods. We did that in this matter, and we will continue to do so.”
Why Forest Acres leaders raised concerns
Forest Acres residents shopping at the DCP Mart convenience store just across the street from the new mini mart Tuesday afternoon told The State they aren’t against stores selling beer and wine, and haven’t seen it negatively impacting the neighborhood.
Steve Hudson, who has lived in Forest Acres on and off since 1964, said the store that operated prior to the new mini mart sold beer and wine, and he did not see a problem with it then, either.
He added that when he was younger, the area had almost no businesses at all.
Preston Curran, a 57-year resident of Forest Acres, also said he doesn’t have a problem with the stores selling beer and wine, saying “I drink beer myself.”
He said as long as the stores are operating legally, he doesn’t think they are bad for the neighborhood, but he did agree with city leaders that the area around Trenholm Park could use some improvements. He pointed to nearby apartments as an example.
Singh’s store sits at the intersection of Bethel Church and Covenant roads, in a small pocket surrounded by tree-lined neighborhood streets and several apartment complexes. It opens into a small commercial area with the two convenience stores and a Dollar General, in addition to the park and a nearby daycare center.
The intersection is part of Forest Acres’ recently-dubbed Covenant Crossing district. Once an industrial hub 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.
The nearby apartment complexes Curran pointed to as an area in need of improvement also came up in Robinson’s testimony. He described Covenant Crossing as Forest Acres’ busiest area for police calls and cited a 2025 shooting at The Landings that forced police to evacuate Trenholm Park during a Little League game.
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Forest Acres has made the area the focus of a promised renewal, with leaders envisioning a district with coffee shops, restaurants and other businesses. The City Council recently passed zoning rules intended 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 in August. “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.”
Among leaders’ concerns are the store’s plans to sell single-serve beers, which law enforcement officials say can correlate with higher call volumes. 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 single beers. Singh, when asked by Forest Acres attorney William Dillard during the August hearing, said his business would be impacted if he didn’t sell those items.
Protesters of the permit, including resident Bryan Willis, also said they worried about single beers being drunk at the park.
Robinson also testified that he had seen “a strong connection between alcohol sales and criminal activity” over the course of his career.
South Carolina Administrative Law Judge Phillip Lenski, in his decision granting the permit, said Robinson’s concerns about crime were legitimate, writing, “The court is sympathetic to the FAPD’s concerns about the potential negative impact of beer and wine sales at the proposed location.” Because of that, he added several stipulations to the permit. Those include requiring that an employee check and clean the premises twice a day, mandating that the store have security cameras, and limiting alcohol sales to between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., among other provisions.
But the judge ultimately ruled for Singh because “the site itself has not been the source of any criminal activity,” he wrote in his decision, also noting, “nothing was presented showing that the issuance of a beer and wine permit to [Singh] would adversely impact the area or contribute to the strain of law enforcement resources.”
New business in vacant storefront
Singh, the store’s owner, is a Ph.D. student at the University of South Carolina whom the judge in his ruling called “a mature, responsible, and knowledgeable person,” who seemed capable of managing beer and wine sales. Singh grew up working in convenience stores owned by his father around Columbia, and in court said he wanted to open the mini mart as an entrepreneurial endeavor after that childhood experience.
He is leasing the building that houses the new mini mart, which had been vacant since at least 2021 after its previous tenant Circle K moved from the site. The building owner spent $500,000 on updates before Singh opened his store. Singh also testified in court, and he said he saw it also as an opportunity to provide things like water and Gatorade for park visitors.
But he said being able to sell beer and wine would be vital to his success.
He also told the judge that his three employees are trained to check IDs, and that the store is equipped with security cameras, bright lighting and electronic scanners. He also said he would not allow loitering on the property.
The judge in granting Singh’s permit also rejected the Forest Acres Police Department’s suggestion that Singh’s family was connected to the DCP convenience store across the street, which has been previously cited for underage alcohol sales. Police had raised the connection because DCP’s owner and Singh’s father share the name Ranjit Singh. Singh testified that his family has no connection to DCP, and Lenski called the insinuation “apparently unfounded.”
Singh was not at the Bethel Church Road mini mart Tuesday afternoon when a reporter visited the store. A clerk explained that a manager visits the shop daily, and the owner comes in infrequently.
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A voicemail message left with a store manager was not immediately returned.