License Requests

Before the Short Liquor request for a Class C liquor license, there have been 3 other official requests in the past five years. Wal-Mart has applied for a Class C license twice, once in 2004 and once in 2008. Kroger has applied for one once, in 2008. Wal-Mart's 2004 application went before the Liquor Advisory Board and the Liquor Control Commission and was turned down because 1) there were no Class C licenses available and 2) gasoline was sold on the property, apparently a no-no under the city code. Neither of the 2008 applications were forwarded to the LAB or Liquor Control Commission for consideration. Instead, letters were sent to both indicating that no licenses were available:

The letter from the city to Wal-Mart, dated Feb. 11, 2008, says "that there are currently no Class C liquor licenses available" and that the license application for Wal-Mart will be scheduled for review "if and when a Class C license becomes available". Ditto for the Kroger letter, dated May 1, 2008, with the additional note that the application appeared to come from Kroger Limited Partnership I and the Carbondale Liquor Code "requires that if a liquor license is to be held by a partnership, all partners must reside within the corporate limits of the City of Carbondale".

In addition, Schnuck's, Arnold's and the Neighborhood Food Co-Op have all expressed an interest in selling liquor but have never pursued the license, probably due to this part of the Carbondale City Code:

No class C license shall be issued to an applicant whose principal business in the premises described in the application is a retail sale of groceries or drugs, unless a permanent, opaque wall separates the area of sale of the groceries and drugs and the area of sales of packaged alcoholic liquor and unless each area has a separate entrance and separate checkout facility. The total number of class C licenses issued by the local liquor control commission will not exceed seven (7).

Essentially, any store selling groceries in Carbondale that wishes to sell alcohol as well must install an area separated from the rest of the store that is solely for liquor sales. Possibly viable for Wal-Mart, Kroger and Schnucks, not so much for Arnold's and the Co-Op.