Cumberland Farms seeking expansion of liquor sales
Photo | Grant Welker
A new Cumberland Farms store in Westborough features kiosks where customers can order more elaborate sandwiches than the company offered in the past. The company began an effort in 2020 to bring liquor sales to all stores through a proposed ballot question.
Cumberland Farms is seeking a statewide ballot question next fall to allow operators like it to bring liquor sales to all stores.
State law now sharply limits the number of convenience store locations able to sell alcohol. Each entity is now able to hold only seven licenses, though that number will rise to nine by Jan. 1.
Under a proposal submitted to the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office on Wednesday, that ceiling would rise to 12, then 15 and then 18 by the start of 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively. By 2024, the cap would be lifted entirely.
Westborough-based Cumberland would have a lot to gain from raising or eliminating the state's cap on liquor sales for food stores. The company has more than 200 Massachusetts locations.
“On the 100th anniversary of prohibition, many local food stores still can’t sell beer and wine,” Matt Durand, the head of government affairs for Cumberland Farms, said in a statement. “It’s time to change these archaic laws in a safe and thoughtful way, and if we need to take that to the ballot, I think the voters will agree.”
Submitting a proposed ballot question for the 2020 election by no means guarantees a change in state law, though. More than 80,000 signatures are needed with the proposal, according to the Secretary of State's Office, which certifies the submission. It then goes to the Legislature, which could decide to act on the proposal itself instead of putting it before voters.
If the ballot question does move forward for the 2020 election, it would require an additional 13,000 signatures by the time it is ultimately submitted back to the Secretary of State's Office.
The state's cap on alcohol sales by food stores was last addressed in 2011, when the Legislature voted to gradually increase the cap.
The proposal by Cumberland Farms calls for stricter age verification processes for those buying alcohol, including asking for verification no matter the age of the customer. Local authorities would also be given power over any quotas for food-store liquor licenses instead of the state.
Cumberland Farms is being sold in a deal announced in August to the British firm EG Group, ending decades of ownership by the Haseotes family. Cumberland Farms has more than 500 locations across the Northeast and Florida, and has recently been overhauling some stores to include more elaborate and higher-priced food and drink options.
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Bad idea! I am not against alcohol sales, but I am opposed to convenience stores having carte blanche to sell the stuff, mainly because most of them are lousy at checking ids. Witness tobacco sales.
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