Four E-Z Mart convenience stores and three Flash Market stores have applied for permits to sell beer at their stores. In addition, Flash Market applied to sell beer in a nearby Springdale store, and Murphy Oil Corp. has submitted an application to sell beer in Springdale.
Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Division director Michael Langley [image-nocss] told the newspaper he plans to deny a set of applications based on objections from local officials. This sets the stage for the matter to be heard later by the full ABC Board. "The plan is they'll be held in April," he said.
Fayetteville Police Chief Greg Tabor objected to the Fayetteville applications, desiring to maintain a longtime Washington County tradition of only permitting alcohol sales in liquor stores.
Langley said his division has a longtime "policy," although it is not a written policy, of the director denying permit applications if opposed by one of three local officials: the police chief, the mayor or the prosecuting attorney. The practice was in place long before he assumed the position, he added.
Once the director denies a permit application, it is forwarded to the ABC Board for review.
Tabor's main objection to the applications is that a liquor store is a more controlled environment for processing purchases and preventing the purchase of alcohol by underage persons. He also said the "hustle and bustle" environment of c-stores can lead to missteps in checking identification of buyers.
In a letter objecting to the Flash Market stores, Tabor stated, "Because the sale of beer at Flash Market will be a sideline in this store, our department has concerns that store employees will not be as serious in following regulations as those working in liquor-only outlets. If Flash Market loses their ABC license from violations, the store will remain in business with its other merchandise. This is not the case with liquor-only outlets that cannot afford to lose the right to sell liquor."
The city of Fayetteville has enacted laws in the past that convenience stores and grocery stores could not sell beer, but they were repealed because of attorney general opinions that cities could not make such a law.
Sonja Hubbard, CEO for E-Z Mart, Texarkana, Texas, said her company simply wants to offer a product that is sold at many c-stores in Arkansas and other states. Washington County is the state's only wet county where beer sales in convenience stores and grocery stores are not allowed.
"We've never really understood why it was treated differently," Hubbard told the newspaper. "We still believe the citizens of Northwest Arkansas deserve the convenience."
Of Tabor's objections, Hubbard said the sale of beer through c-stores seems to be handled properly in other places, so maybe it would not be as big of a problem as it has been perceived.
"For E-Z Mart, it is against our mission and the way of business to do anything immoral or illegal," she said. "We are looking forward to serving customers of legal age in a legal manner."
Hubbard hinted that the chain will continue its efforts to break into the beer sales market even if the current applications are denied.
Langley said E-Z Mart is welcome to continue applying to sell beer at stores even if the board ends up denying the current applications. There is a one-year wait period after a board denial, however, before E-Z Mart could re-apply to sell beer at the same location.
Meanwhile, Denver residents would overwhelmingly vote in favor of allowing grocery stores, supermarkets and convenience stores to sell full-strength alcohol, according to a Denver Daily News survey of more than 25 people throughout the Denver area.
On Wednesday, a Colorado House committee killed House Bill 1192, which would have allowed grocery stores and supermarkets to sell full-strength beer. After the legislation's defeat, the bill's sponsor, Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, brought up the idea of taking the issue to the voters on the November 2010 ballot.
Although small liquor store owners and local craft brewers worry that the bill's passage could put them out of business, almost every person interviewed at Denver locations said they would vote in favor of allowing grocery stores to sell full-strength beer.
"Competition is competition," John G., a consumer who wouldn't disclose his last name, told the newspaper. "If liquor stores can't compete with the big-bucks stores, then that's just the nature of capitalism."
Ari Armstrong, publisher of FreeColorado.com, is a vocal advocate of getting a version of HB 1192 on the Nov. 2010 ballot. The website publisher staged an event at the Capitol on Friday where he smashed bottles in protest of the grocery limits, arguing that not allowing grocery stores to sell full-strength beer is "using the force of the government to harm competitors and favor certain businesses."
"Protectionism is wrong," he said. "What we want instead of protectionism is a free market, where merchants and customers can come together voluntarily of their own choice and associate in the way that they deem best. What we need, in a word, is liberty."
Craft brewers claim McFadyen's measure would force them to drop to their knees and plead with c-store and supermarket corporations to stock their product; and the Colorado Licensed Beverage Association and others, including Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said teen c-store clerks would possibly cave to peer pressure and start sneaking full-strength beer out to their friends.
"I'm not so convinced that convenience-store owners, or convenience-store managers have the same motives, or the same interests involved in protecting our community from alcohol sales to people under 21," said Kory Nelson, a Denver city attorney in the prosecution section who says he has worked on many alcohol-related cases. "I'm not convinced that those employees are well-trained, well-managed, well-supervised or motivated to really make sure that the law is enforced."
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