New ABC on Main Street looks close to opening

Hooray! No more driving to Carytown for liquor. I hope they stock a decent selection of Bourbon.

er let me rephrase that, off of 25th. well, at any rate, it’ll be nice to have an ABC store in which you dont have to order bottles via glass.

Yeah, umm, I don’t go anywhere near the ghetto ABC store on 25th. Also, I am not looking to buy Jack Daniels and Bacardi. I am looking for Eagle Rare, Pappy Van Winkle, or some 12+ year old scotch. So, yes, I drive to Carytown for liquor. I feel safer shopping there and they actually have a decent selection.

Oh lord. I walk down to the library and the dollar store on 25th all the time with my young children (gasp) and have never been harassed or bothered. People actually (double gasp) say hello and are quite friendly.

I drive to the Carytown store for the good stuff as well. If the Scotch aisle is any indicator, you may be disappointed with their bourbon selection. You can clearly see the labels on the Scotch shelves through the 25th Street window. We may need to band together to encourage them to carry a few favorites from the Carytown store. I will gladly buy a bottle (or three) of Pappy Van Winkle.

teresa, I run in that area all the time. However, the one experience I had with that ABC store was rather unwelcoming, and the selection was awful. I have no desire to shop there at all.

Mark, that is sad to hear. I was hoping this place would carry some high end libations to go along with the area. I am with you on pushing for a better selection.

I agree that the Carytown location has the most high-end selection, but the ABC store on Laburnum (across from the Target/Longhorn Steakhouse) actually has a pretty good selection, I pick up good bourbon and rye for my husband there quite a bit. Unfortunately, they are not open on Sundays. Anyone know whether the 21st St. store will have Sunday hours?

I do, Lora. Just wish it was open on Sundays:) However, I am always nervous that the older woman with the intensely hirsute Burt Reynolds mustache will be working the register and I will have to figure out how to complete my transaction without looking at her!!! LOL.

Sheesh, you guys i was being sarcastic. Of course, online on this blog (or any other webite), one cannot detect that.

If you’re going out to find good booze anywhere, no matter how far away from the Hill, that’s fine. I was just pointing out it’d nice to not have to order behind glass… It was a joke. I took a newer-to-Hill friend to that one, and assured him that not all VA ABC stores are like that.

I’m happy a new one is coming on Main. Maybe party peeps will not think to walk that far from Shockoe Bottom and/or the Slip… but we’ll see.

Well, there goes the neighborhood. Considering that the new apartment building on the same property will have 24 section 8 units & with an ABC store, its only a matter of time before drugs and crime come to the site. In an area that has been making leaps and bounds with improvements it seems now that we are going in the opposite direction.

Teresa, I agree completely w/ everything you said. I’m about to rent to a section 8 family, who aren’t delinquent, drug-abusing slackers. They actually just need help paying rent. If you’re single mother of two children and work in retail, you’d find it difficult to get by on less than $15k a year, too. To add to it, my family will live w/ other renters and mostly owners in a safe community.

Just because families (and singles) need help w/ housing doesn’t mean the whole area is gonna become crime-ridden and fall apart in a second. People are in need of section 8 housing for many different reasons.

Yes…high density of poverty IS a problem. I’m not saying criminal activity isn’t more likely to occur in these areas, we all know it is.

That still doesn’t mean that all poor people are criminals. In fact, the majority of poor people are in fact NOT criminals.

There are plenty of criminals living out in the burbs or rich neighborhoods even..snorting their high end coke (instead of crack) and smocking pot. White collar crime still exists. Just look at Enron.

So don’t tell me that the poor people living in my neighborhood are the be all end all of crime. We all know that is bullshit.

Teresa & Laura, I agree with what you are saying-to a degee, however, look at the statistics. Also I don’t think it is fair if someone moves into an upscale apartment and they pay $1500 a month and across the hall, the exact apt for section 8 may only rent for $400.00 a month. There is no incentive for poor people to improve their lifestyle if they can have the government pay their way. And by the way, I also consider myself to be border-line poor, but I never hesitate to be charitable. I understand that real poverty exists in the inner city and that you cannot assume that all are “working the system”. It’s a matter of the government “helping” the poor or “enabling the poor”.

@Dennis- with what information are you using to state the property will have section 8 units. The houing authority does not typically allocate vouchers to a property and based on what I know about that overall development I would be surprised if many, much less a majority of the units were rent subsidized.

So Teresa, I think you are trying to be politically correct in your comments regarding poor people and crime. I would like to see living up in Mosby Court with your family. Let me know how that works out for you. For the rest of us, I think Dennis has a valid point in regards to the strides we have made and how the addition of section 8/subsidized housing and the liquor store will bring down the neighborhood.

RY, ask the rental agent for this property. I was shocked too.

#29. Nonsense. All you need to do is look at the clientele of the Market at Tobacco Row and the Subway sandwich shop to realize exactly what you’ll be seeing at the new ABC location. It’s a broad, diverse cross section of longtime city dwellers, med students, young working professionals and couples. To insinuate, in any way, that this Store will resemble it’s counterpart on 25th is absurd and completely farfetched.

Be honest, you have a problem with people of a different race and anyone who makes less than you do.

I doubt this store will attract the folks from the various “courts” like the one on 25th does. Too far to walk and all.

#33. Thanks HillGuy, for sounding so sane and rational.

The provincial attitudes on this thread are hilarious. Last time I drove through Shockoe, I was under the impression that downtown Richmond is part of a CITY. You know, like D.C, Philly, NYC. When I’m in a CITY, I’m not spooked by the idea of (gasp!) poor people living in close proximity to places that sell (gasp!) alcohol.

See, one of the cool but inevitable things about living in a CITY is that sometimes developments occur that might not jibe with your own conception of what’s sensible and responsible. And though I’m usually annoyed when someone plays the “Don’t like it? Well, move to the suburbs then!” card, in this case I just can’t resist making such a suggestion. If your panties get all knotted up by the idea of alcohol and section 8 folks not being kept apart by the moral equivalent of a barbed wire fence, then maybe you’d find life in a place like Short Pump less stressful and anxiety-inducing.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to browsing their selection of Irish whiskey. Life on the Hill just gets better and better!

@ Kevin and @ Hill Guy:

Exactly.

And there are plenty of crimes happening in wealthy or middle class neighborhoods. I don’t watch tv (no cable..gasp) and rarely get out with three under five..so I doubt my brain is too screwed up regarding images of crime. I think more likely your (and others) images of your black neighbors have been formed by the same brain rotting media.

There’s a difference between section 8 apartments and a development that will accept section 8 vouchers. Just because they will accept the vouchers it doesn’t mean the units will be used by voucher holders. The powers that be rarely approve project based vouchers.

though i don’t agree with the comments made by some regarding that the area will be in jeopardy because of section 8 housing, let’s please not turn this into a racial issue. Class warfare, maybe, but not racial. These people are aware of the different flavors in a City, yet chose to live here.

As a new resident of Church Hill after nine years in the suburbs, I can say that the reason my husband and I moved here is because of the diversity of the people and having decent restaurants and shopping within walking distance. Yes, I have braved the ABC store at 25th. I was not hassled and in fact had the door opened for me both coming and going by young men who smiled and said “you’re welcome, ma’am” when I thanked them. Not everyone that lives over there is a thug even if they might look like they just got out of filming a Lil Wayne video. My neighbors are black and white, rich, middle class and poor, young and old. We’ve talked more to our side-to-side neighbors in six weeks than we talked to anyone on our old street in nine years. We wanted to live in a neighborhood, not a development, and we do and the good far outweighs the bad. You should want businesses opening here, even–gasp!–businesses that sell booze near possibly poor people.

James…the more I come to this blog, the more I believe you to be a total douche bag.

stop being so condescending.

I’ve lived in seattle where there is plenty of diversity. I mention your image of blacks because I’m very aware of the racial demographic in out city and when we talk about who is living in poverty in our city, those numbers are overwhelmingly blacks.

I think your a total racist and I’m sorry your aren’t willing to confront your own demons. I’m sure you think you are an outstanding white guy who just doesn’t like crime. You do after all run near the ABC on 25th.

Anyway…you are making so many wrong assumptions here.

First, you assume I’m white.
Second, you assume I’ve always lived in Richmond.
Third, you assume you know more about everything in Church hill then everyone else.

I started coming to this blog as a way to keep up with my neighborhood. Now I realize, you aren’t the neighbors I want to know.

@ Ry–you are absolutely correct–I think some people on here do not seem to understand what the deal is with Section 8 and want to leap to conclusions.

@Teresa–you kind of had me, until the namecalling. Then the wheels fell off of your bus. If you go back and read James’ posts, especially the last two sentences of #42, you might understand his point, which is the opposite of your interpretation.

@sunny #46–wha da? since when is this thread about Obama? chill out.

Teresa, thanks for taking the thread down another level into the gutter. They let you teach children? I am astonished. There is no need for childish name-calling.

First of all, I assume you are African American at this point. Not because of previous posts, but because of the post #49 where you jump in and call me racist. I would then make the conclusion that you think I am white, since (in your mind) only a white person could claim that poor areas have high crime. After all, as you said, most of the poor areas in RVA are also African American neighborhoods. However, I hate to ruin your grand hypothesis on what type of person I am, but I don’t care about race or color.

Here are my points that you seem to want to skip over in your anger and lack of proper rebuttal:

1. Not all poor people are criminals! Section 8 housing does not always bring in crime.

2. Poverty breeds crime. Race has nothing to do with this. Look at any poor area, whether it be occupied by whites, blacks, latinos, or even asians, and you will see a high crime rate.

3. Middle class and upper class neighborhoods have less crime than poor neighborhoods in the same city/area. I know you say they are the same and that the crimes are just not caught, but you are wrong. I am sorry. 9 out of 10 homes in the mid to upper class areas are going to occupied by law abiding citizens. No undercover illegal activities, just people working and living their lives. There are middle and upper class neighborhoods (even in RVA) occupied by whites and blacks. Again, no need to even mention race in this argument.

4. This is the most important point… The fact that the building on Main contains section 8 housing, and also features an ABC store, has nothing to do with crime. Mixed income housing is the best way to break up the poor/crime ridden neighborhoods. It gives the good people living in the poor areas a way out. This is the only point that we should be arguing here, but some people like going off about racism and everyone hating the poor. Get over it.

Now, Teresa, I will no longer converse with you, unless you are willing to use your mature adult vocabulary. I have summarized my points, and I think they are quite clear. If you decide to continue the name calling, I will just ignore you.