A few weeks ago, in our post “Park Ridge Not “Unfriendly” To Business, Just Nutty”, we were critical of Ald. Jim Smith (3rd) for his attempt to make more of a mockery out of what already was a mockery: the Council’s attempts to cut-and-paste a variety of questionable amendments to the new Class M liquor license requested by Whole Foods.

Whole foods actually drafted the proposed Class M license language and, not surprisingly, it was written to apply only to grocery stores 35,000 square feet or larger.  And not surprisingly, Whole Foods will be one of those, while we understand only Dominick’s currently satisfies that requirement. 

Both Jewel/Osco and Trader Joe’s do not.  And therein lies the rub that begat Ald. Smith’s motion to amend the Class M license area requirement to only 20,000 square feet – which we assume qualifies both Jewel/Osco and TJ’s.

Frankly, once Smitty started talking about shoe stores, florists and real estate offices serving liquor by the glass, he lost us.  And it looked like that’s where he lost the Mayor and the Council, too.  So his 20,000 square foot Class M license amendment really had no chance of receiving meaningful consideration.

And it didn’t.

Which, in retrospect, was unfair.  What’s good for the goose, policy wise, should be good for the gander.  Grocery stores like Whole Foods, Dominick’s, Jewel/Osco and Trader Joe’s should be able to compete on a level playing field.  And if passing a Class M license that would apply to all of them would help level that field, why not consider it now rather than playing catch-up ball later?

As it stands right now, Dominick’s has an eating area where people can consume food purchased there – a situation Whole Foods is expected to duplicate and enhance.  Neither Jewel/Osco nor TJ’s currently offers that dine-in experience, perhaps because of their significantly smaller size.  But why should the language of the new Class M license be structured to frustrate any future effort by those two stores to create dining areas in their existing footprints, or in expanded premises of something less than 35,000 square feet?

Given the effort and debate the Class M adoption process has already consumed, we think it would be more efficient to consider these issues now – when the matter is already before the Council and the law is being written on a clean slate – rather than later, when the debate would need to be effectively re-started from scratch, and intervening circumstances might add to, or cloud, the issues that are pretty clear at this time.

And while the Council is at it, one of the 5 who voted for the adoption of the Class M license as modified by the DiPietro Amendment to restrict alcohol by-the-glass sales to between 5:00 and 10:00 p.m. rather than from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. should seek reconsideration of that service hours restriction. 

Why should Whole Foods be prejudiced in competing for lunch business even though Chipotle (a block away), the Pickwick (two blocks away), and Houlihan’s and the other restaurants in the Uptown complex (three blocks away) can all serve lunchtime liquor by-the-glass – as can all the restaurants in Edison Park a scant five blocks in the other direction?

But much as we think Smitty’s idea of a level playing field for comparable grocery stores makes sense, we’re still not buying into his concept of liquor licenses for every Park Ridge business.

“Koenig & Strey Cocktails” just doesn’t sound quite right.

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