A Queenstown Night’n Day has lost its off-licence after the District Licensing Committee unanimously decided it was "not a grocery" store.
Tricorp Holdings Ltd had applied for a new off-licence for the Church St Night’n Day. While it had held an off-licence since 2008, it had been operating under a temporary authority since April, after it was purchased by experienced operator Alan Garrick.
The store operates 24-7. However, the off-licence hours were limited to between 7am and 11pm.
The sole issue for the committee was determining whether the premises was a convenience store or a grocery store. Ultimately it was in "no doubt" it was the former and, under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012, an off-licence could only be issued for premises which were the latter.
While under the old Act any grocery store could be granted an off-licence if the principal business was the sale of "main order household foodstuffs", the new Act defined a grocery store and products.
It also required the committee to have regard to the size, layout and appearance of the premises, along with a statement of annual sales, divided into specific categories.
The decision said the premises had enough space to be a grocery store. However, there was no room for trolleys and no checkouts.
The interior of the store looked "busy and cluttered and the majority of the items seem to be confectionary".
Prominent displays all highlighted convenience items and there was a large "self-help slushy/ice cream type machine" in the middle of one of the aisles.
"The appearance from the outside is definitely that of a 24-hour convenience store.
"The words ‘beer & wine’, ‘takeaways’, ‘bakery’, ‘groceries’, ‘ice cream’, ‘snack foods’, ‘fish & chips’ and ‘deli’ are prominently displayed," the decision said.
While annual sales figures showed the store’s principal business was the sale of food products, the figures appeared to be "at odds" with the predominance of convenience foods and confectionery on display.
The committee had regard to the definition of "grocery" under the Act, Wikipedia, the Concise Oxford and the Merriam-Webster dictionaries and ultimately was in "no doubt" the business, at present, was a convenience store because the shop was not "bulging" with any of the items needed to be a grocery store.
There was a lack of dried and preserved goods, modest supplies of tinned goods and packaged foods and no fresh meat.
"The vegetable display was limited and there no potatoes on either day that we visited.
"It is hard to imagine that people would regularly shop at these premises to buy food that is not snack food, or ready-to-eat food.
"Is this a destination for people regularly to purchase grocery items to take home in order to prepare one or more of the three meals that are normally consumed every day?
"We think not."
In declining the application, the committee said the overwhelming factor was the 24-7 nature of the operation which existed for the "convenience of people who are in need of an immediate food or drink fix".
The decision takes effect in December.
