Palatine OK's Alcohol Sales at Walmart
The store at 1555 N. Rand Road opened in 2005 and has never sold alcohol. The Palatine village council voted Monday to grant the retailer a special use permit for package liquor sales of beer and wine.
The Palatine village council Monday unanimously approved a special use permit for Walmart, located 1555 N. Rand Road to begin selling packaged liquor.
Sales of wine and beer can now occur only between the hours of 9 a.m. and midnight. From 6 a.m. [when the store opens] until 9 a.m., the area where liquor will be sold will be gated to restrict access to it.
A newly created Class B-2 liquor license also was approved by the village council, and was added to the village alcoholic beverages code. It allows liquor sales at general merchandisers such as WalMart, and could include Target, though no official requests have been made.
Restrictions under the license differ from grocery stores and other retail locations that sell alcohol.
The license requires there be 50,000 square feet of floor space, in which a maximum of 5 percent is used for alcoholic beverage displays. Other stipulations are that sales can only include beer and wine, and the store has a pharmacy license.
The space allotted for liquor sales at Walmart includes one aisle, with 48 feet of refrigerated coolers, 48 feet of shelving and liquor display areas at both endcaps.
When asked why Walmart did not previously have a liquore license, Village Manager Reid Ottesen simply said, "They never asked for it."
"Staff is supportive of this request, the sales are ancillary and are not a major part of this business," Ottesen said.
Prior to coming before the village council, the Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously voted to recommend approval of the request.
Kelly K
10:39 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
If you ever wanted proof that the Palatine Village Council does not value nor support small businesses, look no further than this unanimous vote. Walmart is well known for driving the mom and pop stores out of business all over the country. Walmart destroys lives and people's livelihood. This is yet another in a very long list of bonehead decisions by a village council that doesn't care about helping the economy by being inviting and welcoming to small businesses and instead kowtows to big players like Walmart. Way to go losers!
Melanie Santostefano
11:13 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Here's what readers are saying on the Palatine Patch Facebook page:
"Putting mom and pop stores out of business. Support the little guys. Boycott Walmart."
"I don't support this at all."
"No support on this one Palatine! Small town businesses will surely suffer because the caliber of employee attention to detail at this location is minimal at best. Watch for underage liquor sales at local Walmart to be the next headline."
"Big deal. It still wont get me to shop there."
What do you think Palatine?
Scott
11:15 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Kelly - So on what grounds should the council denied the request? That they don't like Wal-Mart? That's the beginning of a lawsuit.
Jerry I.
3:35 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
They seem to base plenty of other decisions on what they don't like.
Kelly K
2:19 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
They could have denied it based on the criminal element that lives nearby and causes trouble all over that entire area of palatine. Do you really want to add alcohol to the mix of the gang activity that is already so prevalent in that area? So besides putting the small businesses out of business, it's just going to make alcohol far more accessible in an area of town that really didn't need another thing to add to the already huge crime problem in that part of town. Underage liquor sales will be through the roof there, it's pretty much a given.
Kim C.
2:39 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
I completely support your viewpoint, Kelly K.!
Scott
10:16 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Kelly - do you know how WalMart handles their liquor sales? (I do; I watched the council meeting). If so how do you anticipate underage liquor sales going though the roof?
Shawn
2:55 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Dundee road at night is like the rio grande with families crossing to get to wally world. Now there will also drunks crossing from the north side to get more booze. Palatine should take the TIF money and build a wall. That whole NE rand /dundee area is nothing but problems and headache for our town, schools , police, and fire. Can you imagine our village without that area. our taxes would be lower, less crime, smaller class sizes. Our village official let this mess occur over time and now they are adding to it. They could have denied it on the basis of "There are already enough liquor stores in that area. " but they chose not to.
Palman
9:00 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
“This isn’t the kind of business Palatine needs, it’s nothing against the petitioner,” Councilman Greg Solberg said, “I just don’t think it reflects well on the people of Palatine.” -- OK, so Palatine doesn't like tattoo parlor according our illustrious council member, but the message is clear, DRINK ALCOHOL INSTEAD!!
Shawn
9:10 am on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
palman, I was for the tatoo parlor. I don't think the "Body Art" shop would have generated any sales tax though and we like sales tax. Labor is not taxable only goods. Yet they keep approving more banks that have 0 sales tax revenue. Why ?
VOP Resident
4:53 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Would these comments be the same should Target ask for a liquor license? Many suburban Targets (and Walmarts, for that matter) have liquor sales as part of their ever expanding focus on grocery sales. So if "mom and pop" refer to "Jewel and Dominicks" then I suppose I could agree.
Scott
10:17 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
VOP raises a valid point. It's easy to hate Wal Mart, but would you make the same argument against every grovery store and dept store in Palatine also?
Shawn
9:22 am on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
I hate walmart . Remember when walmart sold american products and even put flags on the advertising "made in America" . They sucked us in then switched over to chinese products. They are the largest retailer in the world. If they continued to promote American products I would not hate them. They did a bait and switch so now I hate walmart for that.