(The following article by Joe Malinconico was posted on the Neward Star-Ledger website on June 24.)
NEWARK, N.J. — It was bad enough that NJ Transit’s customers had to deal with the normal day-to-day hassles of commuting.
Then things got worse. One day back in January 2004, the liquor store that had been doing business at Newark Penn Station for 18 years suddenly closed its doors.
Commuters who wanted to wash down the day with a stiff drink on the ride home had little choice. They had to incorporate one more detour in their trip, a half-block walk through rush-hour traffic and persistent panhandlers to a liquor store on Market Street.
“There was a lot of riffraff there,” commuter Susan Kinney of Clifton said.
But things have returned to normal for thirsty transit commuters. On June 10, a new liquor store opened at Penn Station.
“This is great,” said Bill McManus, walking from the store with three 16-ounce cans of Budweiser. “We have long days and some bad days and it’s nice to have a beer on the ride home.”
Three beers? Must have been a really bad day, huh?
“No, my two friends are waiting up on the tracks,” McManus said. “Whoever gets out of work first buys the beer and the other two guys meet him there.”
Don’t expect to pick up a six- pack at the “Wine and Liquor Stop.” The store’s manager, Sunny Shroff, said the contract with NJ Transit precludes bulk sales, part of an effort to curtail excessive drinking at the station and on the trains.
Instead, customers rush into the liquor store and buy one or two drinks for the road. There’s a tin tub filled with cans of Budweiser and ice cubes. Other canisters are filled with iced cans of Foster’s, Coors and Heineken. In the cases, there are miniature bottles of Merlot, vodka martinis and 12-ounce bottles with juice and rum.
Everything gets sold in paper bags — one bag for each can or bottle.
Chris Dowling of Bound Brook already has made stopping at the new liquor store part of his commuting routine. Every day, he said, he stops in for two 16-ounce cans of Budweiser.
“This helps me relax on the way home,” Dowling said.
Dowling was among the folks who used to take the walk down Market Street to Mini Rocha Liquor. The owner there, Antonio Rocha, has noticed a drop in his business since the liquor store at the train station reopened.
“It’s more convenient for them,” he said. “What can I do?”
Even lower prices — Rocha charges $1.25 for a 16-ounce Budweiser, compared with $1.65 at the train station — were not enough to attract commuters from the station.
“This store is for poor people,” he said. “That store is for rich people.”
Besides the liquor store, Newark Penn Station has a restaurant, a few newspaper stands, a delicatessen, a shoe repair shop, a dry cleaner and several other stores.
Thousands of people a day catch buses and trains at the complex. Also, many Raritan Valley Line and PATH rail riders transfer to other trains at Newark Penn Station. During the evening rush hour, the ebb and flow of business at the liquor store changes with the comings and goings of the various trains.
NJ Transit allows its customers to eat or drink on its trains, as long as they clean up after themselves, agency spokeswoman Penny Bassett Hackett said.
The old liquor store closed in January 2004 when NJ Transit decided to take bids on the lease. The previous tenants contested the change with various court actions, delaying the reopening, officials said.
The old lease brought NJ Transit about $57,000 a year, compared with about $105,000 under the new one, Hackett said.
“I’ve been waiting for them to reopen,” said Dan Griffin of Bridgewater, emerging from the liquor store with a vodka martini. “It’s been a long time.”
But the reopening of the liquor store doesn’t exactly make Newark Penn Station whole. The pizzeria that had been serving slices to commuters for 19 years shut down recently, as yet another business changes hands. This time, transit officials promise, it won’t take 16 months for the new tenant to set up shop.
The pizza should be ready by the fall, Hackett said.