a neighborhood institution

liquor land, originally uploaded by miz_ginevra.

It's not a Disney ride for drunks, and it's closing to make room for a CVS.

"This is a double-edged sword," said Dumas Lafontant, director of the Lower Roxbury Coalition. "It's never good when liquor stores outnumber supermarkets, and we welcome giving residents more access to medicine and other goods. On the other hand, we don't welcome a major corporation replacing a locally owned business."

Horace Renge, 56, an unemployed man with a big, toothless smile, comes by the store nearly every day to earn a few dollars fetching coffee for the Petrillos or sweeping the place. His picture is on one of the store's cash registers...

"David Mays has even more to lose. The president of Tow Happy earns about $2,800 a week towing cars from Liquor Land's lot, where people visiting the hospital often park illegally. "There's no way I'll replace this income," he said, after nearly towing the car of a reporter who had been at the store.

Petrillo and her daughter Christina, who are on a first-name basis with many customers, say their business is about more than money.

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Liquor Land is across from the hospital which houses the gym I go to, and bookends a bunch of public housing. It makes me sad to lose a local business that's been around for longer than my dad's been alive.

nerdily, I like the Vegas-y typepace.