Store Cafe Wants To Sell Beer, Wine By The Glass Huckleberry’s Seeks Approval From County Hearing Examiner

If fresh carrot-spinach juice doesn’t complement the quiche, perhaps a glass of wine will.

Huckleberry’s Fresh Markets is hoping to serve beer and wine by the glass in its in-store cafes.

But store officials will have to wait until mid-March to learn whether the county hearing examiner approves the permit.

An organic thumbs-up will mean that Huckleberry’s at Ninth and Monroe, and the Valley store scheduled to open April 1, will be licensed to serve wine and beer with meals in the store’s cafe.

At its South Hill store, which opened last fall, Huckleberry’s brews coffee and fruit and vegetable concoctions to accompany its full-course meals.

“Because we’re not a traditional supermarket deli serving chicken and jojo’s, we think it’s appropriate to sell upscale beer and wine,” said Norm Carpenter, vice president of Rosauers Supermarkets. Rosauers operates the organic food markets.

Carpenter said the addition of beer and wine would enhance the food and ambiance.

Rosauers supermarkets with attached restaurants have been selling beer and wine by the glass since 1978, Carpenter said.

Store managers have already gone through liquor board training, Carpenter said.

However, not everyone is pleased with the request or views it as a plus.

In written comments, Norene Elsom, who lives near the South Hill store, told county Hearing Examiner Mike Dempsey that the proposed sale of beer and wine by the glass “is an unprecedented request for a neighborhood store.”

Elsom said sales of beer and wine by the glass would increase the potential for drivers “under the influence to encounter children walking to and from the nearest school, which is Roosevelt Elementary.”

Other residents said the request was not out of bounds.

“We believe that Huckleberry’s will provide a general upgrading to the neighborhood,” Sherry Esvelt said in a letter filed with the county.

The South Hill store’s cafe serves about 800 customers a week.

Store officials estimate that 15 to 20 percent of that number will order wine or beer with their meals. And most of those sales should occur during dinner hours, not lunch hours, store officials said.

Huckleberry’s is not open past 10 p.m.

“We’re not trying to be the local tavern,” Carpenter said.

, DataTimes