By Marc Larocque

Northeastern imbibers will still need to walk a few more steps for a late-night snack.

Symphony Market, a convenience store close to campus, was denied the right to extend its hours by the Zoning Board of Appeals at City Hall Tuesday. The board voted 4-3 against the corner shop’s request to stay open until 3 a.m., one hour past its current closing time of 2 a.m.

The problem, according to city leaders and community representatives, is college students who leave nearby bars that close at 2 a.m. The extended hours of operation, they said, would incite students to linger later.

“Unfortunately, we have students getting out of the bars, causing disturbances,” said Johanna Sena, a spokesperson for City Councilor Mike Ross, whom represents the area. “We already have a problem there.”

The Zoning Board of Appeals takes each case on its own merit, said Robert Shortleeve, chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals. But the board has been “extremely reluctant” to have stores open for 24 hours, he said, because of crime that sometimes coincides.

“Symphony Market only wants to be open one more hour,” said Dennis Quilty, an attorney for Symphony Market. “It’s a family operated business and has been operating in exemplary fashion. The store was originally granted a license to operate for 24 hours and used it for a week before the city said it made a mistake and took it back. And there is a much larger store on the adjacent block that is already open for 24 hours.”

Symphony Market, located on the corner of Huntington Avenue and Gainsborough Street, currently opens at 6 a.m. The store owners want to be open during the four hours in between, but only requested to extend hours of operation until 3 a.m., after learning of their opposition

One man stood up for Symphony Market at the Zoning Board of Appeals hearing, approving the store’s attempt to be open later.

“Symphony Market is an icon of decency in our community,” said David Gagnon, who lives on Massachusetts Avenue. “Isn’t this America, the land of opportunity? Whatever happened to free enterprise? They are helpful and the store is clean. They sweep outside the store. It’s safe there. I’ve never once been accosted there.”

Omar Abuhasan, one of three brothers who own Symphony Market, said he works closely with police and has appeared in court to thwart panhandlers who have huddled on the street corner in the past. He said students are not the problem.

“The bars stop serving food at 12 a.m. and there are two hours where students are drinking without food,” Abuhasan said. “If they come here after, they can get some chips, a soda and a sandwich, and calm down before getting a taxi to go home.”

Symphony Market collected over 500 letters of support for the extension of hours, Abuhasan said.

Before the Zoning Board of Appeals hearing, the store owners attempted to arrange a meeting with the neighborhood groups that expressed opposition to the extension of hours. They left three messages with the president of Symphony United Neighbors, Abuhasan and the attorney, Quilty, said. A meeting is now being arranged between the Symphony Market owners and the neighborhood groups through the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services to discuss the issue further.

Members of the community groups have decried a one-hour extension which, they say, would be detrimental to the quality of life in the area.

“Northeastern and bar owners have cops there and it’s still difficult,” said Jane Hartnann, a board member from Symphony United Neighbors and a representative for the Gainsborough Neighborhood Association. “It’s a good store. It’s simply what happens when students get out of Our House. We just want to sleep. [Students] impale soda cans on fences and throw food. These are quality of life issues.”

As Our House East, around the corner from Symphony Market on Gainsborough Street, let out at 2 a.m. Sunday, some students caroused around the bar’s vicinity while others flagged down taxis.

“The [neighborhood groups] have the wrong perception of college students,” said Tim Roche, a middler communication studies major. “We aren’t going to cause more problems with Symphony open just one more hour.”

While workers from Symphony Market were locking up, Tyler Thronton, a junior history major, walked up to Roche, munching on a bag of Lay’s potato chips, which he bought from College Convenience, a 24-hour mart, less than a hundred yards away at 281 Huntington Avenue.

“It’s just a loss of business for Symphony,” Thornton said. “They deserve to compete.”