Tuesday, January 05, 2016

Meeting on a potential new Liquor Store

There will be a public meeting this Wednesday, January 6th concerning a liquor store that wants to open at 505 Tremont.  All are welcome to attend.

Wednesday, Jan 6
6pm
519 Tremont street (the empty storefront between Picco and Santander bank.)
All are welcome to attend.


The operators of Wine Riot are looking to open a liquor store in the Atelier complex.  The location would be 519 Tremont street - between Picco restaurant and Santander bank (previously home to a furniture store).  

A previous public "Abutters" meeting was held in December.  At that time the developer had not notified everyone within the required 300 foot radius, and only notified neighbors 2 days prior to the meeting.   Given the lack of notice, a second abutters meeting was recommended - to both give abutters & Neighbors another opportunity to get information and provide feedback, and to have a single common meeting rather than have separate Eight Streets and Ellis NA meetings.   The meeting date/time was put on the Eight Streets calendar at that time, but the final meeting location wasn't confirmed until just recently.

At the last meeting most of the attendees were Eight Streets residents, joined by an Ellis board member and 2 people form the 505 condo association.   Also in attendance were the owners of other local liquor sales establishments.

The petitioners want to open a 'high end' liquor store catering to the younger customer - those who attend their Wine Riot events.  They assured attendees that in-store tastings will be 'regular' small tastings, and not large events similar to their larger Wine Riot tastings.  While they help saying it would be a 'high end' shop, they said wine prices be between $15 and $25 - which is consistent with what other local stores offer wine for;  attendees were then curious what 'high end' would really be, and how this store would be different from the 8 local liquor/wine retailers in the area offer.

At the December public meeting, there were no members of the public who spoke in favor of the proposal.   Those who did speak wondered if the area needs another wine/liquor store, and what effect a new store would be on current businesses.

All are welcome to attend this Wednesday's meeting and express your opinion.   The City and both adjacent NAs will be in attendance to hear your views.

if you cannot make this meeting, you can attend or send a letter to the City Hall hearing.  
Wednesday, January 13th at 10am, City Hall, 8th Floor, 1 City Hall Sq Room 809, Boston, MA


1 comment:

Charlie D. said...

Sounds like a reasonable proposal to me. Like others, I also wonder if another wine/liquor store is needed in the area, but if the business owners think there is enough demand to sustain them, it's not my place as a citizen to tell them otherwise.