OCALA, FL (352Today.com) – The Shikarporias are back, and the answer is still “no.”

Shoaib and Zarian Shikarporia showed up again this week in their ongoing endeavors to open a Spot On Liquors in Ocala, and the city council again turned them down. This time the reasons were different.

Last November, the same pair, then operating as Virwa Inc., sought a package store at 1500 W. Silver Springs Blvd. in West Ocala. More than 20 residents passionately spoke against it. They described the area as a “financial desert,” pointed to existing crime concerns, and said another liquor store near schools, churches, and the E.D. Croskey Recreation Center would undercut years of revitalization efforts. Residents who opposed the liquor store called the surrounding West Ocala neighborhood a “food desert,” noting that the only nearby place selling groceries is King’s Food Mart, the same convenience store where a fatal shooting occurred two months earlier.

The council denied it unanimously. The same site had been rejected in 2021 for similar reasons.

On Tuesday, the Shikarporias returned under a new corporate name, Mikael 25 Inc., asking for an off-premises beer and wine permit at 125 NW 27th Ave., Unit 107. Planner David Sablon told the council the roughly 1,100-square-foot space is in a multi-tenant building that received its certificate of occupancy in September 2026. The site meets parking requirements, has had no police calls in the past two years, and background checks on the two applicants found no DUIs or arrests. Staff recommended approval.

Then came the correction. The original staff report said there were no daycares within 500 feet. Sablon told the council that there is one directly adjacent. There is also another alcohol outlet within the same radius.

Council President Ire Bethea Sr. was blunt.

“There is a daycare within 500 feet,” he said. “There is another liquor place less than approximately a mile away. There was another one proposed about six months ago, within a mile from there. I have issues with it.”

He added that an ABC store sits about two to two-and-a-half miles up the road and said he simply has issues with putting another liquor store “in that community right now.”

The applicant declined to speak. The council then voted to deny the request, with Hilty, Mansfield, and Bethea voting no and Musleh voting aye.

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