7-Eleven gets OK to sell booze in Hamilton stores after city loses court challenge
7-Eleven Canada has been given the greenlight to sell booze inside its Hamilton stores after a last-ditch bid from council to axe the company's plans failed in court.
The city formally objected to 7-Eleven's push to couple dine-in meals with beer and wine in April, arguing liquor consumption at convenience stores in suburban neighbourhoods didn't serve the community's best interests.
But the Licence Appeal Tribunal ruled against that position last month and granted liquor licences to two local 7-Elevens - a gas station and convenience store at 415 Melvin Ave., and a convenience store at 622 Upper Wellington St.
Adjudicator Geoff Pollock wrote in a decision released Sept. 29 that the city's evidence didn't persuade him enough to believe the licences wouldn't be in the public interest, particularly given that I have found that (7-Eleven's) proposal contains appropriate safeguards for ensuring safe alcohol sales."
Among those safeguards are at that alcohol will only be sold to dine-in customers in bordered off sections of the stores, scraping the possibility for takeout or delivery.
7-Eleven told the tribunal the sections, described as restaurant areas, will consist of a mix of high and low tables that sit a maximum of 10 people. Alcohol will be kept behind the counter and served at the table by staff who've received their Smart Serve training.
Beyond seeking liquor licence rejections, the city also asked the tribunal to impose conditions on the 7-Eleven stores, such as limiting the sale of alcohol from 4 to 11 p.m., erecting a physical barrier to separate licensed and unlicensed areas, posting signage around the store with a phone number where customers could lodge complaints and installing a video security system.
While the store on Upper Wellington was granted a licence without conditions, Pollock ruled the one on Melvin Avenue - which sits behind a row of backyards and near an elementary school - must place a good neighbour" sign near its exit reminding patrons to be respectful, install security cameras throughout its exterior and erect a second sign instructing how to register complaints.
The decision to grant the liquor licences in Hamilton 7-Elevens follows a pattern of similar rulings in other nearby cities.
Objections to a total of 10 liquor licence applications by 7-Eleven - four in Toronto, two each in Hamilton and London, and one each in Sarnia and Brampton - have been dismissed by the tribunal since March.
All told, the multinational convenience store chain wants to sell booze in 61 Ontario stores. But it's an effort that's been met with fervent objection - more than 1,770 residents living near some of the five-dozen proposed locations have formally opposed the company's plans, according to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.
Sebastian Bron is a reporter at The Spectator. sbron@thespec.com