Support Us in Our Quest to Offer Wine and Beer

When the journey began in 2005 to make The Mercantile a reality, we had only an inkling as to how difficult it would be to obtain a license to offer wine and beer. It's a very long story and to offer all of the details here would be unproductive. However, we are happy to share that there is some movement at City Hall with some legislation that would enable us to apply for a limited license.

As you can imagine, the political process is complicated. So, we need your help! I'd love to share some information and details with you.

1. Why can't The Mercantile get a license to sell wine and beer? In the 1990's the ordinances for Atlanta's alcohol licensing were completely revamped. Inside the ordinances are distance requirements that state how far or close places that sell alcohol can be from certain things. Those certain things include schools, churches, parks, day care facilities and so forth. One of those distance requirements states that "no package store shall be within 1500 feet of another package store." The Mercantile is located 1200 feet away from another place that sells wine and beer.

2. There are tons of places around the city that sell wine and beer that are definitely within 1500 feet of each other. How does that happen? There are exceptions written into these distance requirements. For example, there are tons of places around town that were grandfathered into this 1500 foot distance requirement. Another example are larger businesses such as Kroger, Publix, etc. are given an exemption. Unfortunately, there is no room in the current ordinances for businesses like The Mercantile to be granted an exception.


3. So now what do we do? The Mercantile is not the only business suffering from this arbitrary designation in the ordinances. There are a number of specialty food shops around town that also can not offer beer and wine because of this same ordinance. Interestingly, these shops around town are all small, local, neighborhood shops that have opened within the past 3 years. The specialty food industry is rapidly making its way into the Atlanta landscape. It's our feeling that the city of Atlanta should consider making room for these types of neighborhood businesses.

4. Where are these other shops? Little's Market in Cabbagetown, Le Petit Marche in Kirkwood, Savor in Peachtree Hills, and City Market and Deli in Lindbergh Station. More are popping up regularly all across town.

5. What's going on at City Hall? After ongoing discussions for many months several of the shopowners around town started talking to their city council members. Eventually, Natalyn Archibong came forward sponsoring legislation that provides a definition in the ordinances for a specialty food shop. This would allow a specialty food shop, by definition, to apply for a license even if they are within 1500 feet from another establishment that offers beer and wine sales.

This legislation has remained stuck in committee for nearly 9 months.

Councilmember Anne Fauver, who represents the district The Mercantile is in, has also come forward and is working with Natalyn Archibong to get the legislation out of committee and up for a vote.

We are hoping this piece of legislation will at last receive its day in the sun and be up for a vote in the coming weeks.

6. What can I do? Please stop in and SIGN OUR PETITION. We are collecting signatures on behalf of this legislation so that we may present to city council an impactful representation of the number of our guests who wish to be able to support their neighborhood shops and have a choice where they can buy their wine and beer.

7. Is that it? Well, no. We also ask that you consider giving your city councilmember a call in support of this legislation. Call your councilmember and tell them you are in support of ordinance number 08-O-0843 that will make room for specialty food shops in Atlanta's growing commerce scene.

8. Who do I call? It is definitely a good idea to call your city council member-at-large as they represent the entire city:

Lamar Willis: 404-330-6041

Mary Norwood: 404-330-6302

Cesar Mitchell: 404-330-6052

To get contact information for your specific city council representative go to this link:

http://apps.atlantaga.gov/citycouncil/ccinfo.htm

9. Anything else I need to know? For some people, it may seem changing the city's ordinances is a bad idea. They are worried that opportunistic and irresponsible business owners will abuse this legislation by operating laissez-faire establishments that are not neighborhood focused. This in turn would lead to unsafe conditions and increase crime.

Fortunately, this new piece of legislation was modeled after a current piece of legislation already established. This definition in the ordinances is for a specialty wine shop, it allows an exception to the 1500 foot distance requirement. This addition to the ordinances has been in place for a number of years and to date does not appear to have been abused. Further, the definition for specialty food shop is very specific and limits the type of things a business could sell in order to qualify for a license under this definition. Lastly, even though this new definition exempts from the 1500 foot distance requirment, there are still a number of distance requirements in place that ensures a good quality of life around any business that applies for a license fitting the definition.

We hope this answers any questions you may have and that you will consider supporting us in our efforts to provide our guests with one more essential service. At The Mercantile, we are so happy to be part of the Dekalb Avenue corridor and to participate in the lives of our neighbors in Candler Park, Lake Claire and other surrounding neighborhoods. We've watched the area grow and change over the past few years and research tells us there is plenty of room for more than one business to offer wine and beer. We hope you agree and that you'll stop in the shop soon for a visit.

Thanks!

-Janea Boyles