Nearly six months after closing the grocery store known as Eddie’s of Mount Vernon, the former operators are seeking new tenants to reopen the business.
Store co-owner Dennis Zorn and attorney Melvin Kodenski appeared before Baltimore’s Liquor Board Thursday to ask for extra time to identify a tenant to reopen the store at 7-11 W. Eager St., a business that closed June 30.
Zorn came to the liquor board because his store had a Class “A” Beer, Wine and Liquor License that allowed its operator to sell alcoholic beverages for off-premises consumption – a rarity for grocery stores in Baltimore.
The licensees are Zorn, his daughter Dawn Zorn, and Patrick D. Lee, affiliated as Eddies of Eager Street Inc. The license is still active and can be transferred, making it potentially valuable to any new grocery store operator at that location. The liquor board does not issue new Class A licenses.
In a Nov. 29 letter to the liquor board, Kodenski said his clients are “pursuing prospective purchasers” for the Class A license and that a 180-day hardship extension would help “facilitate that.”
The Zorns are “trying to get a new tenant, a new licensee,” to take over their still-active license, Kodenski told the liquor board today. “Out of an abundance of caution,” they are asking for an extension so the license will stay active and they can transfer it to a new operator.
Without an extension, the Class A license would have expired at the end of December. After Kodenski’s explanation, the board voted 3 to 0 to grant the extension, pursuant to the provisions of Alcoholic Beverages and Cannibis Article 12-2202. As a result of the board’s vote, the Class A license remains active and transferrable to a new operator until June 30, 2024.
‘Tears in our eyes’
The Zorns surprised many Mount Vernon residents when they announced on Facebook and Instagram last June that they would close their business by the end of the month. Eddie’s of Mount Vernon was an independent business, unaffiliated with the Eddie’s grocery stores at 5113 Roland Ave. and 6213 N. Charles St.
Dennis Zorn had owned Eddie’s of Mount Vernon since 2000, but the property had housed a grocery store since 1939. Before it was an Eddie’s, it was an Acme. The store was constructed within the shell of an old stable, Coffay’s Livery, which dates from the mid-1800s and later became a garage.
With about 5,000 square feet of space, Eddie’s was the only grocery store in the Mount Vernon-Belvedere area. The closest grocery stores are the Safeway store at 2401 N. Charles St.; Streets Market & Café at 222 N. Charles St. and Save A Lot at 2008 Maryland Ave.
“It is with a heavy heart and tears in our eyes that we have to announce that after 24 years being in business we will be closing our doors for good at the end of June,” the Zorns’ message said in part.
A possible revival
The building is owned by 13 West Eager LLC, headed by developer and Mount Vernon resident Dennis Richter. On Nov. 12, preservationist Charles Duff said during a talk at the Engineers Club that Richter may have found an operator to reopen the now-vacant building.
“I believe my friend Dennis Richter…is about to revive Eddie’s Market here in Mount Vernon, and the new operators will be immigrants,” Duff said.
Since then, the building on Eager Street has remained dormant. Richter did not provide additional information about his efforts to reopen the building. Jack Danna, president of the Mount Vernon Belvedere Association (MVBA), said in an email message in November that the neighborhood organization supports Richter’s efforts. Danna previously announced at a community meeting that the MVBA was committed to finding a long-term grocery solution for Mount Vernon residents and had secured a grant to help plan and open a grocery store in Mount Vernon.
“MVBA supports the project and has been working hard on securing the funding needed to make the project work,” he said in his email message last month.
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