Righteous grocer loses business
Cornerstore owner refuses to sell alcohol, tobacco,
so customers flee and sales fall 75 %

by David Dishneau

AP

HAGERSTOWN, Md. Lenzlea Mosby Jr. stopped selling beer and
cigarettes at his grocery store for the good of his customers. Now he is
the one who's suffering.

After 35 years of steady business, his customers stopped coming.

"Accolades are fine, but what I need are more sales," the grocer said,
sitting behind his faded bluegreen counter on a painfully slow July
afternoon.

Three months after his decision, his shelves are becoming bare. Fresh
meat goes bad before he can sell it. One day this month, five people came
by in an hour. Three bought a soda or hot dog. The others left shaking
their heads at Mosby's lectures on the evils of smoking and drinking.

"I've gotten cursed out by some people, calling me idiot, stupid,"
Mosby, 63, said. "One man said, 'You should be committed."'

Even his son says he is out of his mind.

Beer, wine and especially cigarettes accounted for half the sales at
Mosby's Grocery Mart, a brownbrick corner store he has run for 35 years
in a mostly poor, black neighborhood.

People came from all over for his smokes, which were cheaper than those
sold at other stores in this bluecollar town of 35,000.

Turning point

But then Mosby got stabbed. He survived, but only after three
operations and a change of heart. It happened when a doctor told him that
he would not have survived the operations if he had smoked.

"When I came back to the store, I felt guilty when I sold a pack of
cigarettes," he said. "I didn't want to be the cause of any more young
people starting to smoke."

Mosby said he expected to lose business, but not this much.

Sales are down 75 percent. Formerly loyal customers now buy their
groceries where they can get smokes and liquor. They also go elsewhere
for pool tables and video games, which he also banished from his store.

"I've got to walk further to get my cigarettes now," said Cheryl
Williams, who lives around the corner. "I don't like it, but it's his
store."

David Gaines walks three blocks for beer now and pays 50 cents more per
sixpack. He said, "For the neighborhood, I think it was a bad
decision."

Mosby's son, Lenzlea the 3rd, doesn't like it, either.

"I think it's foolish," he said. "It was his largestselling product.
Unless he plans to go out of business, a businessman needs to make
money.

Area churches donated several thousand dollars to help Mosby with
expenses. Mosby said he has borrowed from his life insurance to make his
$2,000 monthly mortgage payments. He hopes a state crime victims
compensation fund will help cover his more than $30,000 in medical
bills.

The Rev. Philip Hundley, president of the Washington County Ministerial
Association, supports Mosby's crusade. He said the store's financial
problems reflect Mosby's inability to buy products in bulk at low prices,
and the reluctance of white people to shop at his store.

Brandnew start urged

The Rev. Michael Pfleger, a Roman Catholic priest in Chicago
who has led campaigns against tobacco and alcohol sales in poor black
neighborhoods, said business typically falls off. Recovery requires hard
work by proprietors and their supporters, he said.

Despite the troubles, Mosby said he won't resume selling booze and
cigarettes.

"I'm not going to waver in that no matter what happens," he said