Bolla Market at 449 Jericho Tpke. in Mineola circulated a misprinted flier suggesting it operates 24 hours per day at the two-year-old location, confusing residents that strongly opposed its ratification two years ago. The Mineola Village Board approved CEO Harry Singh’s 2,250 square foot store with the caveat of a 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven day per week schedule in December 2013.
“It was just an error,” Singh said. “[Mineola is] not open 24 hours. Our other stations are.”
Bolla and village attorneys have discussed time changes of the location, but if Bolla were to operate 24-7, company reps would need to attain village board approval. An application has not been submitted to the village board, officials say.
“It’s been informal conversations,” Mayor Scott Strauss said. “Maybe they’ll apply, maybe they won’t.”
The flier took White Road resident Maria McCarey by surprise, considering the crux of the discussion during the heavily-attended public hearings focused on the objection to a 24-hour operation in 2013.
“We still hold strongly that we don’t want it to be 24 hours,” McCarey said. “They’re supposed to close at 11 p.m. and I’ve gone there at 11:20 p.m. and you can still get gas.”
McCarey said Bolla has been a good neighbor “in the sense of the grounds have been maintained. [Singh] is doing a nice job there.” Yet, there’s still cause for concern, she said.
“We’re outraged by it; misprint or not,” said McCarey of the flier. “We thought they had a lot of nerve sending these fliers out. I went to the store and asked what’s going on and a worker said ‘well, we will be opening up soon,’ like it was set in stone.”
The Mineola Bolla station and convenience store is the only non-24 hour spot in the 85-store chain. Forty-two of Singh’s stations sport a convenience store.
“They have asked [to be open 24-7], but we have seen no official requests,” Strauss said. “Do they want to be [open 24 hours]? Yes they do. But the decision was that they would close at 11 p.m. and open at 5 a.m. We are watching carefully and closely and will take appropriate action if we need to.”
Aside from Bolla, Mineola has four gas stations with two running 24 hours, including the Sunoco gas station on Jericho Turnpike and Herricks Road that has a convenience store.
“There are stations that are open for 24 hours in the village,” Singh said. “Do we want to open for 24 hours? Definitely. But we’re not going to do it unless it’s legally permitted. We’re doing the right thing by the community. We’re doing everything that they asked for.”
As part of Bolla’s approval in 2013, the gas station giant erected a six-foot masonry wall from White Road east to Latham Road, complete with shrubbery and plantings to minimize noise pollution. Bolla also constructed a six-foot, white PVC fence on the south side of the municipal parking lot behind the building, which is not on the station property, near residential homes.
“We’re paying for labor, we’re paying for lighting for security,” Singh said. “I want to make it very clear that we want to be transparent to the community. People should realize that we want to be an asset to Mineola.”
“The closing time is still egregious to me,” White Road resident Stan Wojis said in 2013 after the December approval. “The board ignored the will of the people that were 100 percent against it and no one for it. I’m not happy.”
