Judge rules against furniture salesman

Shop owner Bennett Lew accused of conducting misleading sale

Tom Sharpe | The New Mexican

10/9/2008 - 10/10/08

A local merchant can continue to sell from a Galisteo Street shop, but he can't put up signs outside advertising discounts or even the name of his business, a judge ruled Thursday.

Bennett "Benny" Lew challenged the city's distressed-merchandise ordinance which regulates going-out-of-business or fire sales that some merchants say cheapens Santa Fe's business environment.

"This is just aimed at protecting the self-interests of the greedy merchants" who are "gouging tourists" by charging 10 times what they should, he told state District Judge James Hall during a hearing Thursday.

One local merchant recently defended the ordinance by saying it discourages "certain elements," said Lew, a rabbi, who maintained that is code for "Muslims, Jews, Negroes."

City Attorney Frank Katz, who also is Jewish, said he sympathizes with Lew, but the issue has nothing to do with "wily merchants," but rather protecting the public from misleading sales. Katz told a reporter later he doesn't mean to imply Lew doesn't have bargains at his shop.

Lew, who said he has years of experience with seasonal sales of imported crafts in New York City and on Long Island, said he bought a shipping container of Indonesian teak furniture earlier this year, stored it at a warehouse at Santa Fe Place mall and attempted to sell it wholesale to interior designers, beginning in May.

When that didn't work, he tried to sell to the general public in August, but the mall's managers closed him down because he wasn't renting a retail space. Lew said he rented a new retail space at 225 Galisteo St. through Nov. 30, got a city business license and applied for a distressed-merchandise permit in September.

City staffers approved his business license, but turned down the permit for a distressed-merchandise sale because there was no indication he had been in business before. This means he cannot display signs advertising he is closing, his 50 to 80 percent discounts or even the name of his business, "Everything Must Go," so people walking by his shop can see them.

After the City Council rejected his appeal, Lew appealed to state District Court. Representing himself in court Thursday, Lew told Judge Hill he just wants to recoup his losses, pay off his creditors and move to Scottsdale, Ariz., to get away from what he called Santa Fe's unfriendly business climate.

Hall responded that Lew's arguments about other merchants trying to run him out of business were extraneous. He said the city requires more than just planning to go out of business for a distressed-merchandise permit, and Lew has yet to satisfy all the requirements.

"The way the city has interpreted the law is exactly right," Hall said. "One of the reasons they passed this ordinance was to stop the issuance of this type of license. ... The decision of the City Council in denying (the permit) was appropriate."

After the ruling, Lew told a reporter he planned to talk to a lawyer about one other possible plan. "It's a clever move, and it's to try to do a store closing to get around the laws," he said.

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.