West Denver Liquor Store Closed After Being Labeled "Haven for Criminal Activity"

A west Denver liquor store lost its license and is now closed after the city licensing department determined the business contributed to crime in the Villa Park neighborhood.

Avondale Liquor, a troubled liquor store located at 1365 Federal Boulevard, sold alcohol to an underage police officer wearing plain clothes in May of last year, according to the Denver Police Department. Additionally, five violent crimes occurred on the property between September 2022 and October 2024.

Avondale Liquor applied for a new license last spring as the shop's liquor license was set to expire in July. However, Denver Department of Excise & Licenses executive director Molly Duplechian required a hearing, asking the business to show why it shouldn’t be closed down due to the crime rate and community complaints about the store. The liquor store was allowed to operate as the disciplinary process continued.

The Denver District Attorney’s Office, helmed by Beth McCann at the time, recommended that the store's license not be renewed in the interest of public safety. According to DPD Sergeant Lexido Jorge, there were “a large number of people loitering, drug usage and dealing, and public consumption of alcohol, and public urination in the Avondale Liquor parking lot.”

In a November hearing over the license renewal, Assistant DA Zach McCabe testified that in a first-degree murder case originating in 2020, the defendant was at Avondale Liquor immediately before killing his victim nearby.

Over three days in November, a city hearing officer heard testimony from owner Zaid Ghebremeskel, various neighborhood groups that opposed its license renewal and city officials, including Denver City Councilwoman Jamie Torres, who said she had long been concerned about the presence of the operation in her district.

The hearing officer recommended in December 2024 that the license renewal be denied. Duplechian made it official on February 20, according to Excise & Licenses. The phone number listed for the liquor store has been shut off, with online listing websites reporting it closed.

Avondale Liquor had a rocky time in 2022, the last time the business’s liquor license was up for renewal, over complaints from residents and DPD. Rather than completely shut down the business, Excise & Licenses placed conditions on the store's license in 2022. Conditions included higher staffing, more employee training on safe liquor service, checking the ID of every customer with an electronic point of sale, extra security cameras and required cleaning of the store and parking lots.

According to Duplechian, Avondale Liquors violated several of those conditions.

“Now, more than two years later, the Licensee still refuses to report criminal activities occurring in its parking lot to DPD and remains an attractor of crime in the area,” she wrote in her February 20 decision. “Licensee had ample time to address the concerns presented by the community in 2021 and 2022 but has failed to make any meaningful changes.”

Conditions there are worse now than three years ago, according to Excise & Licenses, with three registered neighborhood organizations opposing the license and 48 verified signatures from community members asking for the business to close.

Resident Andres Lozano Olivares testified in November that he used to shop at Avondale Liquors, but stopped because he no longer felt safe. According to Excise & Licenses documents, Olivares told the city hearing officer that "there are people who constantly hang out at the south corner of the Avondale Liquor store building, near the tire shop, and they consume alcohol and drugs,” adding that he was harassed "several times when he went to the liquor store."

Olivares also testified that he often saw people urinating in the parking lot and immediately consuming beer and shots after purchasing those products in the store.

When Avondale Liquor sold beer to an underage police officer, he never showed ID, according to police. Ghebremeskel testified that she had installed a point-of-sale system that required a computer to scan IDs before purchases, but some old inventory may not be in the system. She argued the instance was an outlier, and that her store had passed ten compliance checks over the last three years and failed one.

Ghebremeskel told the city she had banned her brother, Nathan, who was working the day of the failed ID check, from manning the register.

But that wasn't enough for Excise & Licenses. Duplechian found that Avondale Liquors failed to uphold the licensing condition requiring a government-issued ID with every purchase. Ghebremeskel did not fulfill conditions to prevent loitering, either, according to Duplechian’s decision.

Ghebremeskel told city officials that she installed security cameras and employed security guards, but loitering issues persisted. According to city licensing documents, Ghebremeskel said she or another employee successfully told people to leave the parking lot often, but community members testified that shady characters loitered in the parking lot around 90 percent of the time.

“The director does not find the licensee’s testimony that she has taken action against the loitering problem credible,” Duplechian wrote. “There remains a rampant issue with loitering on the licensed premises and adjoining areas, which has contributed to the criminal and violent activity.”

Allowing people to loiter and consume alcohol also violates other license conditions, Duplechian wrote. According to Ghebremeskel’s testimony, she posted a big sign telling people not to drink in the parking lot and asked people to leave if they did, but Duplechian found that the business hadn’t done enough to prevent drinking on the premises.

Lastly, Duplechian said there is overwhelming evidence that Avondale Liquors operates in a manner that adversely affects the safety of the neighborhood, including contributing to violent crime.

“This pattern of violent activities includes, but is not limited to, auto theft by a suspect in possession of a semi-automatic pistol; armed robbery; armed carjacking; and assault,” Duplechian wrote.

Blake Christenson, a crime analyst with the Denver Department of Safety, testified that calls to police from the liquor store were for more serious crimes than calls to other nearby liquor stores.

“The top five community-initiated police calls associated with Avondale were related to alarms, assaults, disturbances, weapons and overdose,” Duplechian wrote. “In comparison, the top five community-initiated police calls for a nearby liquor store, Tobin’s Liquors, were related to trespassing, theft, disturbance, threats and narcotics.”

During the hearing, Ghebremeskel disputed that Avondale Liquors contributed to drug and crime problems in the neighborhood.

“She believes that other factors contributing to crime are the volume of people in the immediate area, which has two bus stops on either side of Federal Boulevard, and two bus stops on either side of 14th Avenue, and a light rail station across the street from the liquor store,” the city hearing officer wrote.

Michael Dematte, the store's landlord, testified on behalf of Ghebremeskel, saying he thought the store was not contributing to the problems in the neighborhood, and blamed nearby RTD stops for crime.

However, Duplechian steadfastly disagreed in her final decision.

“The amount of criminal behavior, including violent behavior, present on the premises and adjoining areas is directly related to the Licensee’s refusal to report crimes to law enforcement,” she concluded. “This refusal to report crimes to law enforcement has created a haven for criminal activity."

Avondale Liquor and Ghebremeskel could not be reached for comment.