East Side supermarket wants liquor license

CHICAGO | More than two dozen residents — most in opposition — turned out Wednesday at a meeting on a request by Pete's Fresh Market to sell alcoholic beverages in the East Side supermarket.

Representatives of the store, at 3448 E. 118th St. in a former Dominick's Finer Foods store, used a hearing coordinated by 10th Ward Alderman John Pope to explain how having a liquor department in the store would benefit neighborhood residents.

But most who attended the hearing appeared to already have made up their minds. They were opposed. Residents used the hearing at a vacant storefront east of the supermarket to air their grievances, which included concerns about morals as well as the belief it would encourage more drunken driving.

James Dumas, who works at the nearby Ford Motor Co. auto plant, said the supermarket's proximity to the Illinois/Indiana state line would mean that Indiana residents who can't buy alcohol on Sundays in their home state would come to the East Side to make their weekend beer runs.

"It's just a fact that Indiana people love to cross over to Illinois to get their alcohol" on Sunday, Dumas said.

Attorney Endy Zemenides, speaking for the supermarket, said Pete's Fresh Market needs to be able to offer alcoholic beverages if it is to remain competitive economically with big box stores, such as Walmart and Target, which sell liquor in addition to groceries and other goods.

In fact, Zemenides said, there is anecdotal evidence indicating that the Walmart store in Hammond, 1828 165th St., which sells alcoholic beverages along with groceries, takes business away from Pete's Fresh Market because some people would rather make all their purchases in one store.

"The marketplace has changed. We have to adapt," he said.

Zemenides said Pete's officials want to take the vacant storefront next to the supermarket — formerly a Walgreen's — and convert it into a liquor department accessible from the existing supermarket.

Items such as 40-ounce bottles of beer or small bottles of alcoholic beverages would not be sold at the store, he said.

"We're viewing our customer as the person who wants to pick up a bottle of wine to go with their meal," Zemenides said.

Pete's officials already own the property, but Pope said a moratorium on new liquor licenses that has been in place for the past five years would need to be lifted for this license to be approved.

Zemenides said the Pete's Fresh Market at 1900 Sibley Blvd. in Calumet City already sells liquor, meaning that the company is experienced in keeping underage people from being able to buy alcohol in the grocery stores.

But Rich Martinez, a past political opponent of Pope who said Wednesday he was speaking on behalf of the Generation 2 Generation group that ministers to teenagers, said he does not support anything that expands access to alcohol within the 10th Ward.

They "should find other ways to expand their business," Martinez said. "It is not the right example to set for our youth."