With gas stations facing increased competition, the South Elgin Village Board may lift a ban that prohibits the businesses from selling beer and wine.
Mark Falk, president of the South Elgin Economic Development Committee, requested the change July 2 on behalf of PS Fuels owners Ken Kearns and Rick Mistretta, who opened a Marathon gas station at Route 25 and Middle Street in South Elgin in 2005. A later renovation added video gaming, which is allowed at truck stops in Illinois.
The possibility of a gas station being built just east of PS Fuels in Bartlett, which would be allowed to sell alcohol, has them worried the difference will give a leg up to the competition, Mistretta said. Developers are in the process of receiving approval for the business from the village, he said.
“Their (Barlett) ordinance allows for beer and wine,” Falk told the board. “It is time to think outside of the box and support the businesses that support us in the village.”
South Elgin has nine gas station/convenience stores, said Marc McLaughlin, director of community development. If adding them to liquor sales classifications is approved by the village, each store would have to petition the liquor commission for a liquor license and pay the license fee.
Previous village boards have denied requests to allow gas stations to sell beer and wine, board President Steve Ward said. But that has slowly been changing; the village has allowed CVS and Walgreens drug stores to sell alcoholic beverages in recent years.
As a former high school teacher, Mike Kolodziej said his concern is minors purchasing alcohol — or adults buying it for them. Two or three businesses in the village with liquor licenses have been caught selling to minors in recent months promising they’d train employees to check IDs and spot underage patrons, he said.
The village can require such preventative measures as installing readers that scan every ID before a sale, something Mistretta said he would consider.
The board could also set said liquor license restrictions prohibiting the sale of such things as 40-ounce beer cans or bottles or limiting the percentage of floor space given to alcoholic products, village attorney Derke Price said.
Beyond putting South Elgin businesses at a disadvantage competitively, the restriction also means the village is missing out on tax revenue that would be generated by beer and wine sales made at gas stations, Falk said.
When PS Fuels added liquor sales to its store in Harvard, there was an immediate 40 percent increase in sales, Mistretta said. In the first month, there was a 20 percent increase from alcohol sales and another 20 percent in “ancillary sales,” he said.
Going into the meeting, Trustee Lisa Guess said she was not in favor of allowing the sales.
“It is a possibility — you swayed me from a dead no,” she said.
