Thursday, January 1, 2009

Miska's - convenience or liquor store?

On March 4, 2008, Councilman Ralph Webster asked a question at the City Council meeting about the percentage of revenues of Miska’s Liquor that were alcohol related. From the Minutes of that meeting: “R. Webster expressed his concern with Miska’s Liquors. They originally approached Council as a convenient (sic) store but have since become a liquor store.”

As I recall, Mayor Sager said that Miska’s alcohol sales were less than 50% of its total revenues. In other words, it was a convenience store that was being allowed to sell liquor, not a liquor store that would also sell convenience store items.

I recall that Mayor Sager, who chairs the Woodstock Liquor Commission, told Councilman Webster that he would get back to him. (Now there’s a phrase that takes on new meaning after this year’s political season! wink, wink)

The next day I went into Miska’s (for the first and only time), and that store is clearly a liquor store. It was hard to find any merchandise that was non-alcoholic. Some bread, some milk, some candy. And rows and rows of liquor. And not only small, lower-priced bottles and brands.

Now, I have nothing against a store that sells liquor. If customers want to buy it, they should be able to. And they should have multiple store choices for their purchases. But if their deal with the City was that less than half of their sales would be liquor, then the City ought to be sitting up, taking notice and acting.

Back on June 22, I emailed Ralph Webster to ask if he had gotten an answer about the sales at Miska’s. Ralph replied that he’d check on it. So, in three months he hadn’t gotten an answer.

Now six more months have passed. When no further information was forthcoming, I emailed City Manager Tim Clifton on December 14 and asked for him to forward my request for information to the Liquor Commission. Tim’s a great City Manager and I’m sure he forwarded my email. However, no one from the Liquor Commission has responded.

Ralph’s concern on March 4th was a valid one and worthy of a prompt answer. I suspect that he had a reason for asking it. Questions like that don’t just come out of the blue. That it apparently hasn’t been answered for months causes me to wonder why.

I could, of course, ask my question about percentage of sales at any regularly-scheduled meeting of the Liquor Commission. Unfortunately, there aren't any Regular Meetings, only Special Meetings announced on the 48 hours’ required notice to members and posted at City Hall. The media (only certain members of the media, not The Woodstock Advocate (at least, not yet)) get notice of Special Meetings.

7 comments:

Kyle S. said...

Gus,

Pardon my ignorance. I assume Miska's has a liquor license to sell liquor. Is there a difference between selling as a liquor store or a convenience store ? If so; what is the benefit for Miska's and Sager to withhold sales info to discern weather Miska's is one or the other ?

Gus said...

Kyle, when the question was asked at the March 4 City Council meeting, I understood the answer to be that Miska's was licensed to sell liquor, but liquor sales were to be less than 50% of its total sales. Apparently, the City's expectation was that it would not be a full-service liquor store. I suspect that Ralph Webster believed their sales were well above the 50% mark and that that was why he asked the question.

Frankly, I don't know why the Liquor Commission would not investigate and reveal its findings. Any guesses?

find the owners manual you fool said...

Legitimate news source? You'll need more than the one little picture for your comics section.

Laura said...

last i knew, miskas has a liquor license. so whats the problem here? i also know they sell a heck of a lot of cigarettes there, which i think probably is the other 50% in question, sure the heck isn;t the dusty and faded dollar store items in the back aisle....

Gus said...

If the Woodstock Liquor Commission held Regular Meetings (same night and time every month or every quarter), then the Public could ask these types of questions and get immediate answers.

Today's questions: Does Miska's have a restricted liquor license? When it applied for its license, did the owner state that liquor sales would be less than 50% of total revenues? Was the license approval subject to that restriction?

Tomorrow's question? Is there an application/request pending for a change in license category to allow more sales?

Bill Crittenden said...

It's called "Miska’s Liquors," is't it? Well, then, what did the City Council think it was going to become, what it would sell more of?

Gus said...

The other business name on the property is Shop & Save. Now I wonder in which name the liquor license was requested.

It was the name, Shop & Save, that I believe I read in a news article within the past two weeks regarding expansion of the liquor business for "quick in-and-out", as compared to Armanetti's, which I believe was mentioned in the same article and might be owned by the same folks. It was in either the Northwest Herald or The Woodstock Independent.

Did anyone else read that article?