SAN ANTONIO – An East Side convenience store with more than 600 police calls in four years, and was recently cited for numerous health and building violations, will soon close its doors.
The Handy Food Mart was given a nuisance abatement compliance agreement by the city and has 60 days to comply.
The convenience store, located on the 600 block of North New Braunfels, is known as a crime hub. San Antonio police responded to more than 600 calls for issues such as shootings, stabbings and prostitution.
Last week, the city’s Dangerous Assessment Response Team inspected the property. Their nuisance abatement compliance agreement agreement stated the store must abate water and mold damage found on interior ceilings, weatherproof its exterior door, remediate rodent/roach infestations, remediate exposed electrical conductors and ceases from utilizing illegal use of LED plug-in lighting in the walk-in cooler, among other fixes.
The city gave the owners 60 days to shut the store down. The owners have agreed to shut down the food mart no later than Oct. 7. They will continue operating until then, but will make some changes.
The store will no longer be open between the hours of midnight and 8 a.m. It will also no longer sell anything that could be utilized in the possession or sale of drugs.
KSAT 12 News reached out to one of the owners, who goes by the name “Andy.” We asked him about the store closure.
He said, "The city requirement — we have to hire a police, like, a security officer. And I won't be able to afford that much money because I'm not doing that much business. So that’s the only option I have.”
Some residents said they don’t think a security officer would make a difference.
“It’s not just here. It's on every street. They going to shut down everything. It's bad up here. You can't single out one place and one person,” said a resident.