Bay Area Corner Store Sold Meth to Customers
- San Francisco sued Tenderloin shop The Corner Store on May 7, saying it sold meth behind the counter at 401 Eddy Street. - The complaint names Discount Markeet 2 Inc. and operators Abdulrahman and Mustafa Mehddar Almehdhar, and seeks a one-year closure plus penalties. - It expands a broader Tenderloin crackdown on stores city officials say doubled as drug, gambling, and fencing hubs.
A San Francisco corner store is now at the center of a much bigger fight over what kind of business the city says was really operating in the Tenderloin. The new lawsuit says The Corner Store at 401 Eddy Street was not just tolerating drug dealing nearby. It was allegedly selling methamphetamine itself, right out of the shop. That matters because the city is not treating this like a nuisance complaint about loitering or litter. It is treating the store like an active participant in the street economy it says has been dragging the neighborhood down. (media.api.sf.gov) ### What did the city actually do? On May 7, City Attorney David Chiu announced a lawsuit seeking to shut down The Corner Store in the Tenderloin. The complaint was filed by the City and County of San Francisco and the People of the State of California against the store business, its alleged operators, and the (media.api.sf.gov), violations tied to controlled substances, and violations of the San Francisco Health Code. (media.api.sf.gov) ### Which store is this? The lawsuit identifies the business as Discount Markeet 2 Inc., doing business as “Corner Store,” at 401 Eddy Street at Leavenworth. It also names Abdulrahman Almehdhar and Mustafa Mehddar Almehdhar as operators, along with The Allen Hotel, LLC and Karen Trinh as defendants connected to(media.api.sf.gov)while the property ownership goes back much earlier. (media.api.sf.gov) ### What is the core allegation? The blunt version is that the city says this was a drug shop hiding inside a convenience store. The complaint describes Corner Store as a place where customers could buy methamphetamine, marijuana, illegal tobacco products, and drug paraphernalia. Chiu put it even more directly (media.api.sf.gov)essively San Francisco wants the court to view the case. (media.api.sf.gov) ### Why is this different from normal nuisance cases? Usually, cities go after a property for allowing crime around it. The catch here is that San Francisco says the business itself was part of the crime. That changes the legal and political stakes. If the city can show direct sales of meth from behind the coun(media.api.sf.gov)ning as a retail node for illegal drugs. (media.api.sf.gov) ### What does the city want now? The city is trying to shut the store down for one year and win court orders that stop the alleged illegal activity from restarting. It is also seeking civil penalties and other relief tied to the nuisance and drug allegations. Basically, the goal is not just punishment. It is to remove one location the city says was feeding open-air disorder in the neighborhood. (missionlocal.org) ### Is this part of something bigger? Yes — and that is the real context. Chiu’s office has spent the past year pushing cases against Tenderloin stores that officials say fronted for gambling, drug sales, fencing, and other illegal activity. In January, the office said it was already making progress agai(missionlocal.org)losive allegation because meth sales are front and center. (sfcityattorney.org) ### Why does this matter beyond one store? Because it gets at a long-running argument in San Francisco about whether neighborhood disorder comes mostly from street-level dealing outside businesses, or from businesses that quietly enable it. The city is betting that some s(sfcityattorney.org)d pressuring landlords in other hotspots. (media.api.sf.gov) ### Bottom line This case is San Francisco trying to draw a hard line: if a corner store is allegedly selling meth, the city wants it treated less like a troubled shop and more like a criminal operation with a cash register. (media.api.sf.gov)
