Fresno liquor store gets $10k fine for price gouging. Dozens of complaints investigated
The city of Fresno has issued its first $10,000 administrative fine to a liquor store for price gouging bottled water amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The city’s code enforcement team on Thursday fined Super Liquor on the Figarden loop for selling a 24-pack of bottled water for $16. Investigators with the City Attorney’s office attempted undercover purchases and were quoted different prices at the counter, Councilmember Miguel Arias said.
The pack of Aquafina water normally goes for $3.99 and Dasani water costs $4.99, according to city staffers.
The city’s team so far has visited and posted price gouging notices at more than 424 locations in city limits and has investigated price gouging complaints at 44 locations. City staffers visited some locations multiple times in response to complaints.
The store owner said he is fighting the fine. Officials said he had been warned and anti-price gouging signs were already hanging in his store window.
Price gouging by raising prices more than 10 percent on essential goods and services came to the forefront earlier this month after Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency because of the pandemic. Since then, residents have flocked to grocery stores and left shelves empty after buying massive amounts of items like toilet paper, bottled water, frozen food and dried goods.
Last weekend, Fresno’s City Council members warned store owners there would be consequences for price gouging. The Fresno chapter president of the American Petroleum and Convenience Store Association also warned his members against price gouging and encouraged store owners instead to educate customers.
On Monday, the Fresno City Council passed a price gouging ordinance, freezing prices on essential goods and services.
Super Liquor is located in District 2, which is represented by Councilmember Mike Karbassi. A small business owner himself, Karbassi has closed his business for more than week,
“Nobody wants to burden our businesses more,” he said on Friday. “We gave them a chance to know what the policies were and they chose on multiple occasions with different people to discriminate and charge higher prices.”
Store owner response
The store owner, Ravinder Singh, told The Bee in a phone interview that he plans to fight the fine and has hired an attorney.
The code enforcement staffer was unfair and unwilling to reason with his staff, he said. The code enforcement officer was comparing “apples and oranges” when looking at prices for packs of Aquafina water and Crystal Geyser water.
Singh said he actually took a profit loss of 85 cents on the Aquafina water packs.
“Everyone is trying to get out and front and do the right thing, which is good and noble, but at what cost?” he said. “They’re accusing someone of something without providing fair evidence or giving them due process.”
Singh says he has computer records that show the last time he raised his prices, and the pack of water was not inflated.
“I’m not happy about this in any way, shape or form,” he said.
Connie M. Parker, the attorney representing Singh, issued a statement late Friday saying “Super Liquor categorically denies all allegations” made by city employees.
Fresno’s effort
Fresno City Attorney Doug Sloan said code enforcement officers have been investigating complaints. In most cases the business has already corrected their prices.
Councilmember Miguel Arias said city employees have been in contact with business owners and signage has been placed in many stores.
“We will not tolerate any resident in our city being price gouged during the crisis,” he said.
The city’s citations are considered a municipal order and don’t necessarily have to end with charges filed against the violator, according to the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office.
“Our consumer protection attorneys continue to closely monitor complaints,” the office said in a statement. “We’ve created an in-house task force using our bureau of investigation officers to follow up on complaints and investigate suspected offenders.”
Price gouging can be reported by calling the code enforcement office at 559-621-8400 or through the FresGo app.
This story was originally published March 20, 2020 at 12:32 PM.