Months after denying Giant Food Store’s plan to sell beer and wine in their store at the Shoppes at Flowers Mill Shopping Center, the Middletown Township Board of Supervisors approved the company’s revised plan at their meeting earlier this week.
The approval to transfer a liquor license from Warrington Township to the Giant Food Store came after the township and company officials engaged in conversations that put some limits on beer and wine sales, including limiting state-allowed onsite consumption of drinks to 24 ounces of beer or 8.5 ounces of wine per customer each day, a cap of 30 seats, no hard liquor consumption, and a 100 percent carding policy.
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The plan is part of a proposed settlement to Giant Food Store’s appeal to the supervisor’s February denial of the license transfer. A county judge still has to agree to the plan, township solicitor James Esposito said.
Giant Food Stores will be adding the beer and wine section separated from the rest of the grocery store in the front. It will replace deli prep area. In addition to adding room for beer and wine sales, Giant Food Store will create a seating area and offer fresh food for sale to comply with the liquor license, their attorney told the supervisors earlier this year.
Supervisor Tom Tosi noted in February that the shopping center already had a beer distributor, Fine Wine and Good Spirits store, and a J.B. Dawson’s restaurant with a bar.
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Jan Edelman, the lawyer representing Golden Beer Distributor in the shopping center, told the supervisors the opening of the beer and wine section in the grocery store would hurt their business.
A resident who lives behind the shopping center said in winter that she is opposed to Giant Food Stores’ plan because the location was “too small.”
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Despite the objections, Giant Food Store officials were able to come to an agreement with the township before their appeal made it to a courtroom.
Supervisor Anna Payne voted against the agreement, citing the numerous other beverage sales options in the shopping center.
The Giant Food Store on New Falls Road has a beer and wine section and the Summit Square Shopping Center location has won approval to add one.
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