Turner store disputes Hannaford license
A Hannaford Supermarkets store in Turner is having its liquor license disputed by the owners of a convenience store and diner who lost their chance at receiving the town's last license.
The Lewiston Sun Journal reported that Hannaford received the town's last liquor license from the state after the supermarket and Bryant's Airport Variety submitted applications last month. Because of its small population, Turner is only allowed four agency liquor store licenses.
Joan Bryant-Deschenes, co-owner of Bryant's Airport Variety, has filed an appeal of the decision by the Maine Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations with the Eighth District Court in Lewiston. In the appeal, Bryant-Deschenes claims the state agency didn't consider Hannaford's proximity to an existing agency liquor store as part of a state statute that exists to consider the impact of issuing a new license nearby. She also claims that the Hannaford store shouldn't have qualified for the license because the store was allegedly summoned last summer for selling alcohol to a minor.
Tim Poulin, the agency's deputy director, said in his liquor license ruling that B&A Variety, the nearby agency liquor store, has not been negatively impacted by Hannaford and that the stores serve different purposes. A field inspector's report for Hannaford indicated that the store did not have any liquor violations from the past year.
Poulin had marked Hannaford as “more feasible” for the liquor license because of “its greater square footage, higher customer count, services offered, parking, larger beer and wine inventory, higher beer and wine sales and start-up inventory of spirits.”
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