Members of neighborhood groups raised protest signs, handed out flyers and collected signatures on petitions Saturday to oppose a new BevMo liquor store planned for 3868 Piedmont Ave.
The building, about a block from MacArthur Boulevard, formerly housed a Blockbuster Video outlet.
"BevMo is an intensively auto-oriented business, while Piedmont Avenue is zoned to encourage smaller, pedestrian-oriented businesses," said Valerie Winemiller, a member of the steering committee of the Piedmont Avenue Neighborhood Improvement League (PANIL), which opposes the store.
"BevMo has told us they will have 15 to 20 deliveries per week, in an area that is already heaviy impacted by traffic from Kaiser Hospital."
Winemiller said other concerns are air pollution from additional traffic and delivery trucks, parking and the preference of some PANIL members to support locally owned businesses.
PANIL was joined by members of the Piedmont Avenue Business Association (PABA), which also opposes the planned BevMo, and some close neighbors of the building.
Winemiller said the groups aren't opposed to a new BevMo in Oakland, but think Broadway's Auto Row or the Rockridge Shopping Center at Broadway and Pleasant Valley Road would be more suitable locations.
The Oakland Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on BevMo's plans Sept. 19 at 6 p.m. at Oakland City Hall.
More information on opposition to the new store is available at www.panil.org
