SOUTHWICK – The fate of a request to sell wine and beer at Ocean State Job Lot is still undetermined.
A public hearing on the request was held during last night’s Board of Selectmen meeting where Attorney Mary O’Neill spoke on behalf of the retailer.
O’Neill said Ocean State hopes to sell the alcohol in a 100 square-foot section of the 33,000 square-foot store. An additional secure storage space would be in the back of the 45,000 square-foot building.
“They would not sell cold wine or beer,” said O’Neill. “There will not be any coolers.”
O’Neill said they would sell private label wines and would not carry big name beer on a regular basis.
Several residents spoke out against the request.
“You have a ton of places selling alcohol in this town,” said resident Lucille Johnson. “Why do we need one more?”
Scott Coviello questioned the square footage and asked the board if the store could increase the size of the alcohol sales area.
“What is agreed to on the license is how it stays, but that doesn’t stop people from asking for an amendment,” Chairman Russell Fox said.
Another question was asked about the number of liquor licenses in town already. Board assistant Sondra Pendleton said the number is based on population and the license available is a malt and wine only license that once belonged to the Quik Mart store.
O’Neill said Ocean State Job Lot would take additional measures to ensure safe alcohol sales.
“Ocean State has decided not to employ anyone under age 18 and will send seven individuals from corporate headquarters to the TIPS Train the Trainer program,” said O’Neill. “They will then go back and train every single employee in the store.”
O’Neill said in addition to accepting state issued liquor identification cards, driver’s licenses, passports, U.S. military identification and Massachusetts ID cards, the store would also accept out of state identification which will be checked against a guide of state IDs and a black light to make sure they were not tampered with.
‘They will not accept college IDs or birth certificates,” she said.
Selectwoman Tracy Cesan said it was a difficult decision and added that O’Neill “did a very thorough job.”
Fox said a letter was written from Police Chief David Ricardi against the license at this time.
The board agreed to vote at a future meeting. At the close of yesterday’s meeting, Selectman Joseph Deedy said he believed there are enough alcohol sales establishments in Southwick.
“I think we’ve got plenty,” he said, adding that he could “see them coming back for expansion and refrigeration.”
