A market in St. Paul that’s been the focus of police attention for incidents including shootings outside will no longer be allowed to operate a specialty tobacco store in a few months, though the convenience store can stay open. The city council approved a settlement agreement Wednesday that will close the matter with Maryland Tobacco in the North End. Ali Alfureedy, owner of Maryland Supermarket and the adjoining Maryland Tobacco, filed a lawsuit against the city in 2021 over zoning of his business at Maryland Avenue and Arundel Street. City staff initially approved Alfureedy’s request for a tobacco store, but later determined that the site needed to be rezoned to support a tobacco license. The city council voted to deny Alfureedy’s rezoning request. City officials were alarmed at the time by a shooting outside the Maryland Supermarket that killed Marquez Perry-Banks, 22, in May 2019, on top of dozens of other calls related to assaults, gunshots, public urination, litter and loitering. Alfureedy said he was being scapegoated for an uptick in crime in the neighborhood. Since then, Dion Lamarr Ford Jr., 21, was fatally shot outside the market in March 2022 as he was robbed. Another man was injured in a shooting outside the location in April 2023 and a 17-year-old was wounded in a shooting in the parking lot in September 2023. “This location has a lot of community eyes on it and has resulted in quite a bit of community impact,” City Council Member HwaJeong Kim, who represents the area, said at Wednesday’s council meeting. License violations Ramsey County District Judge Sara Grewing dismissed Alfureedy’s zoning lawsuit, at the request of the city, in September 2022. She wrote that Alfureedy hadn’t met “the burden to show that the decision of the St. Paul City Council lacked any rational basis for its decision.” The Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld Grewing’s decision in December 2023. A Nov. 6 letter from Sly Onyia, an assistant St. Paul city attorney, notified Alfureedy that the city’s Department of Safety and Inspections had recommended revocation of Maryland Tobacco’s grocery store and tobacco shop license due to multiple license violations. The letter said the violations happened between September 2022 and last February, and included underage sale of tobacco to a 19- and 20-year-old; buyers were required to be 21 or older. Also, a DSI inspector in 2022 found THC edible products were sold in a case close to the Maryland Tobacco entrance that “contained a substantially higher amount of marijuana in each product than allowed by state law” and “were displayed as clearly marketed to children in misleading candy packaging,” the letter said. Related Articles Business | St. Paul: Fort Road Federation seeks to block trash truck refueling station near West Seventh Street Business | St. Paul to test one-side-only winter street parking in Highland Park, Payne-Phalen Feb. 2 to April 12 Business | Black Entrepreneurs Day to return to the Minnesota Capitol for third year Business | Man reported missing from Apple Valley pizza delivery job dies by suicide in St. Paul Business | Jalali, Kim, Jost: Here’s why we want to change St. Paul’s charter to allow for civil fines On Nov. 8, Alfureedy or his attorney proposed a settlement offer to DSI, which led to the settlement agreement, Onyia told the city council. The tobacco product shop license for Maryland Tobacco will be revoked April 30 under the agreement and that store will close. Maryland Supermarket can stay open and will still be able to sell cigarettes because less than 90 percent of the store’s revenue is based on tobacco, Onyia said. “The settlement agreement is a suitable solution for limiting the expenses and resources in pursuing an ALJ (administrative law judge) hearing” and, if Maryland Tobacco doesn’t comply with its license conditions, the result will be immediate revocation, Kim said. Alfureedy referred questions Wednesday to his attorney, who declined to comment.