WARREN, Ohio - Owners from the Big Apple and the Pit Stop convenience stores in Warren, are worried they’re going to lose a huge amount of business.

City council members are considering not renewing the liquor permits for the stores as a way to make them close earlier. 

“That's been our main shooting area so we’re going to try and curtail that,” James Shaffer, Warren’s Fourth Ward City Councilman said. 

The owner of the Big Apple said liquor is 50% of their sales and without it he’s afraid he won’t be able to provide for his family. Under Ohio law, licensed businesses may serve alcohol from 5:30 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday and with a special license they can serve alcohol from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. on Sunday.

Owners and workers from both Warren stores said they can’t control what happens outside of their business and that shutting down a store won’t stop the violence.

The corner of Kenilworth Avenue and Youngstown Road SE in Warren where these stores are has seen a fair share of violence. Back in 2017, two masked men robbed a person outside of the Pitt Stop, that same year one person was shot outside of the Big Apple after a fight broke out. In June of 2023, a 9-year-old was hit with a stray bullet after a shootout between several people happened in the parking lot of the Big Apple.

The Big Apple owners recognize a lot of violence happens outside of the store but said most of it happens when they're closed after 1 a.m.

“We don't want to punish the owners but we want to try and cut down on some of our violence,” Shaffer said.

Shaffer said the mayor and the city’s public safety officer have spoken to the store owners about the violence but the owners of the Big Apple say no council member has spoken to them about it. Workers at the Pitt Stop said they’ve already been working with the city to try and lower violence by closing from 1a.m. to 3a.m. 

Both owners said they plan to go to the meeting on Wednesday, July 12 to try and have the city renew their liquor permit.