Beer, wine now available
HOULTON, Maine — Local residents once again will be able to purchase beer and wine on Sundays.
By nearly a 5-to-1 margin, voters approved a citizens’ petition that sought to allow all stores in town to sell beer and wine on Sundays.
A total of 508 people, or 79 percent of voters, cast ballots in favor of the measure, while 133 were opposed. With about 3,400 registered voters in town, a total of 644 people cast ballots in the election, according to Town Clerk Cathy O’Leary. That puts the voter turnout at about 19 percent.
Stores were selling beer and wine in the town until April 2015, when an investigation by the state’s Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages found conflicting regulations and directed Houlton establishments, including the town’s three grocery stores, to cease Sunday sales of beer and wine. The stores, however, could still sell hard liquor, such as vodka and rum.
The action involved definitions concerning alcoholic beverages and the interpretation of old local regulations and newer state laws governing the sale of alcohol that were enacted in 2013.
With the measure passing, all stores, not just the town’s three grocery stores, will now be able to sell beer and wine on Sundays.
Lisa Harvey, a store manager at DOC’s place on the North Road in Houlton, said she was pleased to see the question passed at the polls.
“I’m very surprised by the vote,” Harvey said. “From a business perspective, it’s advantageous to all of the stores that sell alcohol in the community. Now it will be a level playing field, because before it was just the grocery stores that were selling on Sundays.”
Harvey added that Sunday sales also will be good for customers, who may only want to make a quick stop at a convenience store to purchase beer or wine, instead of going into a grocery store.
“It will just be more convenient for everyone,” she said.
For decades, Houlton did not allow Sunday alcohol sales of any kind. Then, a local referendum in 2004 allowed beer and wine to be consumed in restaurants on Sundays.
About 10 years ago, local grocery stores discovered that if they were licensed by the state as agency liquor stores, they could legally sell beer, wine and liquor on Sundays, because the state’s law superseded the local ordinance in such instances.
That interpretation worked until the state changed the regulations in 2013. A complaint filed last year led to the agency investigation and its order to the local agency stores to stop selling beer and wine on Sundays.
