Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverage Licensing Blog

Gov. Deval Patrick signed legislation allowing an extra liquor license for Natick so Tilly & Salvy's Bacon Street Farm can sell beer and wine, as encouraged by Natick Town Meeting and the Board of Selectmen last fall, reports patch.com.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has signed legislation allowing Tilly & Salvy's Bacon Street Farm to sell beer and wine, which was not previously possible due to the smaller number of liquor licenses allowed in Natick.

"Tilly's is a Natick institution having served its residents for three generations," said Rep. David Linksy. "It is a well respected and well run local establishment and it is important that we support small businesses and help them meet the needs of their customers. I thank Governor Patrick for signing this important local bill into law."

Linksyy pushed for the legislation along with Sen. Karen Spilka and Rep. Alice Peisch at the request of Natick Town Meeting and the Board of Selectmen.

"Increasing the number of available liquor licenses will provide additional opportunities for economic development in the Town of Natick and ensure continued growth for this thriving community," said Spilka.

Town Meeting members voted in October 2011 in support of a home rule petition to allow a beer and wine license for Tilly & Salvy's, a popular family-run grocery store in town. At that time, many residents spoke in favor of allowing the additional beer and wine license, citing the Ciccarelli's proven positive track record in town, through three generations of ownership. Patch.com reports that Natick Wine & Spirits owner Peter Trulo spoke out against the petition, saying granting the additional license would benefit only one business and could set a dangerous precendent for any business hoping to request a liquor license from the town.

The Patriot Ledger reports that Marshfield selectmen have awarded the town's last remaining beer-and-wine license to the Roche Bros. supermarket, just three months after rejecting Star Market's bid for the same permit.

Both stores are off Route 139, about 2 miles from each other. Although the selectmen voted unanimously to award the license to Roche Bros., one member of the board said the town should ask the state to grant an additional license for Star Market.

"It gives Roche Bros. an unfair competitive edge in Marshfield," Selectman John Hall said.

Selectmen said they rejected Star Market's request for the beer-and-wine license in February in order to avoid concentrating the sale of beer and wine near the intersections of Route 3A and Webster Street. They said there are four other liquor stores within walking distance of the Star Market at 20 Snow Road.

Hall told the Ledger that he was opposed to alcohol sales at all grocery stores in Marshfield until he recently drove through a neighboring community and noticed a growing number of alcohol-selling establishments, including grocery stores and gas stations.

"If we are trying to protect our small businesses by not giving beer-and-wine licenses to our supermarkets, then our supermarkets are at a disadvantage to the stores on the outskirts of town," Hall said.

Because the board has no more beer-and-wine licenses to give, the selectmen have agreed to discuss the possibility of proposing a home-rule petition that would give Star Market a license to sell alcohol. For this to happen, a home-rule petition must be approved at a town meeting and by the state Legislature.

Steve Sylven, spokesman for Supervalu Inc., the parent organization that owns Shaw's and Star Market locations, said the beer-and-wine license can provide their customers with a more convenient shopping experience.

"Although we were disappointed that the initial request for a license was not granted, we are pleased the Marshfield selectmen are potentially open to revisiting our application and are looking forward to that future discussion," Sylven said.

McDonough told the Ledger that Blanchard's Wine and Spirits at 700 Plain St. is the only alcohol-selling merchant within walking distance of the Roche Bros. store, which is at 605 Plain St. McDonough also said he was impressed with the supermarket chain's track record with the selling of beer and wine.

"They have beer-and-wine licenses in three other (Massachusetts) communities, and they've never had any issues," he said.

The Boston Globe reports that more than 75 local restaurant owners and residents gathered in front of Waltham's City Council Monday night to oppose adding 15 new liquor licenses to the town's existing 100 licenses.

They said the change could lead to unfair business advantages, depreciate the value of existing licenses, and change the character of Waltham.

If approved in a home rule petition to the state Legislature, the 15 new liquor licenses - 10 full alcohol, and five beer and wine - would be owned by the city and leased to large restaurant chains to keep pace with commercial development in certain areas, like the Watch Factory along the Charles River and certain areas of Totten Pond Road.

Waltham's current 100 alcohol licenses are bought by restaurant owners upfront - usually in the $100,000 range.

More than a dozen people spoke at the public hearing, most railing against the idea presented by the Licensing Commission. Some speakers stated that fifteen licenses will oversaturate the market. Many of those opposed were themselves owners of independently-operated restaurants.

Some news here about Brookline and the prospect of additional lincenses.

Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno is proposing a 1 a.m. closing time for all bars and clubs in the city, less than a month after a 1 a.m. curfew on entertainment in such establishments went into effect, as reported by the Springfield Republican.

Sarno is asking the city License Commission to consider a new 1 a.m. closing hour for local bars and clubs, believing the earlier hour would enhance public safety.

The idea drew immediate criticism from local lawyer Thomas J. Rooke, saying it would be the "final nail in the coffin" of local businesses.

Sarno's proposal occurs just two weeks after he imposed a 1 a.m. curfew on bar entertainment.

The curfew, which took effect April 7, allows bars to remain open until 2 a.m., the current closing hour, but requires them to turn off music, television sets and other forms of entertainment by 1 a.m., unless they obtain a "special late night entertainment permit." Ten restaurant-bars successfully applied for the late night permits.

Sarno said he is "supportive of a 1 a.m. closure," rather than the existing 2 a.m. closing time. The change, however, will require a public hearing and would need approval from the five-member License Commission, which is appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the City Council.

"I am in favor of an earlier closing time as it brings continued continuity to closing time and more importantly better overall public safety to visitors, our neighborhood residents and to the business community ...," Sarno said in a prepared statement.

The earlier time "will result into a much more thriving positive business and economic development climate," Sarno said.

The Boston Globe reports that the town of Sharon may soon allow stores to sell hard liquor for the first time, if Town Meeting approves the measure.

Under existing policy, restaurants can be licensed to serve all types of alcoholic beverages, but stores are limited to beer and wine.

The article before Town Meeting calls for Sharon to submit a home-rule petition to the Legislature to allow alcohol sales in three areas of town.

Town officials who favor the change say they hope to boost business and convenience; similar sentiments have loosened alcohol restrictions elsewhere in recent years, such as in nearby Westwood, where the town decided in 2008 to allow a proposed Wegmans store to sell beer and wine.

Westwood was one of a shrinking number of "dry" towns in Massachusetts until 2005, when the town began allowing restaurants there to serve alcohol. But it did not allow stores to sell beer and wine until the Wegmans decision.

Benjamin Puritz, the town administrator in Sharon, told the Globe that liquor stores in neighboring communities draw customers out of town.

"I think from an equity point on view . . . it's disadvantageous for Sharon not to be able to offer the same kinds of alcohol options of each of the contiguous communities," he said.

The vote comes at a time when the state is gradually increasing the number of off-premises licenses a store may hold, thus allowing chains to sell alcohol at more locations. Until this year, one company could hold only three such licenses; the number is now five and will rise to seven in 2016 and then nine in 2020.

The Town Meeting article calls for Sharon to submit the home-rule petition for liquor sales in Shaw's Plaza, the Route 1 area, and the proposed Sharon Commons development, all of them near highways.

Food markets that sell beer and wine elsewhere in town have raised objections, saying liquor stores that offer one-stop shopping will leave them behind.

"It will certainly draw business away from me," said Jonathan Hall, owner of the Sharon Market, located in the center of town.

The Boston Globe reports that Foxborough selectmen approved an all-liquor license for a Trader Joe's supermarket scheduled to open in Patriot Place later this year.

The unanimous decision was made this week on the condition the company agrees not to sell alcohol during events at Gillette Stadium, that it won't stock containers of alcoholic beverages that are smaller than 8 ounces, and that it will delay the sale of hard liquor until Jan. 1, 2013.

For weeks, residents and town officials have expressed concerns about granting such a license to an establishment so close to Gillette Stadium. The hesitancy didn't stem from concern about the store itself, officials stressed, but about potential liquor sales as the town is working to curb binge and underage drinking that often plagues events at the stadium and other locales.

The Globe reports that three of the California-based grocery chain's 17 Massachusetts stores - in Brookline, Cambridge, and Framingham - sell beer and wine. None sells hard liquor.

Trader Joe's will transfer Foxborough's only available all-alcohol license from Central Wines & Spirits to the new outlet at 350 Patriot Place, the former site of a Circuit City electronics store.

Store management will also work with the town to help identify people who use fake IDs to purchase liquor, town officials said.

On Wednesday, Patriot Place general manager Brian Earley welcomed Trader Joe's to the mall and said the company has "already proven to be willing and cooperative partners with the community, which validates their reputation as the leading specialty grocer in the US.''

The Daily Hampshire Gazette reports that Easthampton's Licensing Board has been inundated with requests for liquor licenses over the last seven months, a change that board clerk Karen Cadieux sees as a sign of an upswing in the service industry in Easthampton.

"It's been kind of crazy lately," she said last week, a day after the board awarded a seasonal liquor license to Riff's Joint in the Eastworks Building. "I think it means things are booming."

Riff's Joint will be able to serve wine, beer and hard alcohol from April 1 through Jan. 15 of each year.

The board also endorsed a request from Apollo Grill owner Casey Douglass to seek a legislative license in Boston above the city's quota.

Douglass said he hopes to open another upscale restaurant at 60-62 Main St. in about a year if his license is approved by the City Council, the mayor and the state Legislature.

In the last seven months, the board has awarded the following licenses to city businesses: Riff's Joint, seasonal all-alcohol; Glory of India Restaurant, all-alcohol; Luthier's Co-op, beer and wine; Popcorn Noir, seasonal beer and wine. Popcorn Noir is seeking to change its license to allow the theater to sell hard alcohol seasonally, too.

A new bar, the Art Bar Cafe, is now open at the former Memorial Hall building at 1 Northampton St. Owners Alexei Levine and Valerie Hood secured an above-quota license from the state in 2010, but only opened the bar earlier this year. Levine told the Gazette that the bar will not have its grand opening for at least a few months.

The Daily Gazette reports that the Amherst Select Board agreed with opponents to the Cumberland Farms convenience store at 35 Belchertown Road selling beer and wine, and unanimously turned down its request for a license.

Among the reasons cited by the board were a determination that there is no need for additional alcohol sales in that section of town, and poor sight lines for exiting motorists.

Several people spoke in opposition to the request by Cumberland farms for one of the six remaining wine and malt package store licenses which are issued annually by the town.

"I just can't personally support them having a wine and malt license," said Select Board Chairwoman Stephanie O'Keeffe, adding that it is not a good fit with a gas station and convenience store that sells on-the-go items. "The idea that there is also beer and wine with that is a troubling message," she said.

The Gazette reports that Select Board member Alisa Brewer said having a convenience store sell beer and wine in a community that already has alcohol-related challenges - in part because of a large number of college students - is troubling. "It's different from the other types of businesses we have," she added.

Select Board member James Wald said he agreed with turning down the application because beer and wine sales would not be essential to the store's livelihood.

The decision can be appealed to the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.

The Sandwich Broadsider reports that the Board of Selectmen has voted 5-0 to revoke the liquor license held by Booster Bar & Grill in Forestdale.

Selectmen later said it was a "difficult case" to consider because much of the testimony in the license hearing did not add up, and that 17 people will lose their jobs, barring a reversal of their decision via an anticipated appeal to the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.

The board found the Route 130 sports bar and restaurant served Jodie Zanello, 26, an intoxicated customer; who then left the establishment, headed north on Route 130 bound for Boston and crashed her Jeep in Dennis after a wrong-way trip.

The Broadsider reports that the hearing featured conflicting testimony at nearly every turn. In the end, however, Selectmen Chairman Frank Pannorfi said he found Zanello's testimony about being served at the Booster bar "credible."

Selectman James Pierce agreed. "I have no doubt she was there and that she had that fourth glass of wine that she testified to."

Zanello, a 26-year-old waitress employed locally, said she was intoxicated when she left Booster shortly after 7 p.m. on Jan. 14. She said she drank four glasses of wine, the fourth being placed in front of her by the bartender, bought by another bar customer.

Bartender Rebecca Holt told selectmen she did not recall seeing the woman or serving her any wine.

Booster attorney Robert Mills produced the computerized shift report for the afternoon in question that showed only two glasses of wine being served during her time behind the bar on a slow business afternoon and early evening.

Testimony revealed that the customer and the bartender were acquainted.

"I was there," Zanello told selectmen.

"I didn't see her," Holt later countered. "She could have been there, but I can't recall seeing her there at that time and date."

Testimony also showed that Booster owner Stefanie Celata never gave Sandwich police Sgt. Joseph Cotter the shift report of items served or the cash register tape from the afternoon in question.

Celata, however, said she gave police everything the sergeant requested; notably credit card receipts and checks, but not the computerized shift report for the afternoon or for the evening bartender's time on duty.

Selectmen pressed the point whether such service reports could be altered by a bartender on duty or later by the owner.

Celata in her testimony doubted Zanello was in her establishment and seemed to intimate that the woman may have consumed wine elsewhere prior to the accident.

The Bourne Courier reports that the Selectmen have voted to reject a request by All Bourne Liquors Inc. to triple the space at Monument Wine & Spirits Shop in the nearly vacant shopping center off Clay Pond Road, Monument Beach.

But the board did not vote to transfer the package store license to the firm that had planned to buy the store and operate it as Luke's Liquor 'N More. The lack of a vote was apparently inadvertent.

Town Counsel Robert Troy then issued an opinion saying selectmen must conduct a second public hearing on the request to transfer the liquor license. Troy ruled the town must also advertise the hearing at least 10 days prior to the hearing date.

Town Administrator Thomas Guerino's office, meanwhile, has received no word of an appeal by Bourne Liquors to the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverage and Control Commission, the Courier reported.

The North Adams' General Governance Committee will recommend the city do without a "bring your own bottle" ordinance, at least for now, reports iberkshires.com

The topic has been under debate since last spring, when the owners of Big Shirl's informed the city they would allow it for evening hours and wanted to know if there were any requirements. The state has no regulations on diners bringing their own bottle of alcohol to restaurants that do not have liquor licenses.

The city's main concern has been over the issue of liability related to someone imbibing alcohol at a restaurant that allows BYOB.

"There is no liability on the city if it does nothing," City Solicitor John DeRosa told the committee on Wednesday. "If you choose to regulate it in some form ... it would fall logically under the Licensing Board, which would then have the obligation to enforce it. If there's any liability one picks up, it's probably at that interface of an enforcement issue -- that we properly enforce our laws."

A former selectman was granted the town's one remaining all-alcohol liquor license on Wednesday, pending town counsel review, as reported by iberkshires.com.

Donald Sommers, who is opening Haflinger House in the former Harrington's Restaurant on Commercial Street, was the only application the town received after four separate businesses inquired about the license.

The board approved granting the license to Sommers pending attorney review of the application. The town wants to make sure the application will also be accepted by the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.

The application was delayed somewhat when Town Counsel Edmund St. John III asked for additional information. Sommers has submitted the information but St. John had not yet to reviewed it, according to iberkshires.com

Anup K. Sangar will open his Indian restaurant within the next month with a liquor license, according to massive.com.
The Easthampton License Board awarded the lone available all alcohol license in the town to Sangar on Wednesday night. He was one of four applicants for the license.

The Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission awarded the city an additional liquor license following the census that put the city over the 16,000 mark for population.

The board held three public hearings and continued the fourth to its meeting next month.
"Everybody could make a game plan of what they had to offer the city," said chairman Raymond Redfern.

While there are no other full liquor licenses available, there are seasonal licenses, he said. Also, business owners can petition the Legislature for a special license.

The board decided on Sangar's restaurant because "it would be better for the community to open a new business, a new business opening in a storefront that was abandoned," Redfern said.
Sangar purchased the former Treydon's Bar & Grill on Union Street earlier this year. The restaurant had been closed since December of 2009.

"The way Easthampton is growing there's a lot of culture. We said this might be a good idea to have this kind of restaurant," Redfern said. "We have Italian restaurants and Chinese restaurants."

There are no Indian restaurants in the city. He said the board also liked that the restaurant would have 80 seats.

The Newton Tab reports that in a unanimous vote, the Newton Licensing Board has denied a beer and wine license for a new Star Market supermarket on Boylston Street.

During a public hearing on Feb. 21, licensing commissioners Martina Jackson and James Mitchell agreed that Star Market is a good corporate citizen, but said the Chestnut Hill area is already well served by three liquor stores, including Urban Grape (owned by a Wesleyan friend, Hadley Morash), GPS Wine & Spirits and Winestone.

Jackson, who serves as board chairwoman, was also worried there wouldn't be enough evening staff to ensure minors can't buy alcohol.

"I think there is legitimacy in the concern of staffing at night, when you think it would be the most vulnerable time for the sale or attempted sales to minors, especially considering the proximity to Boston College and other institutions," she said.

The Newton Tab reports that at the hearing in Newton City Hall, Star Market company attorney Jon Aieta said store managers planned to move the Wild Harvest health food section and replace it with a traditional wine and beer selection. He said the section would take up 1,500 square feet, or 4 percent, of the store.

"Based on the other [Star Markets], the average for wine was in the $9 to $10 range. We're looking to fill a void that's not serviced in this area, and they do want to have traditional domestic beers and wines. They'll also have some craft beers and some high-end wines, but they want to have everything based on what the customers want," Aieta said.

About 25 Newton and Brookline residents showed up for the hearing, in opposition to the application. Nobody spoke in favor of the license.