A Dunedin Night'n Day dairy has succeeded in a nearly two year bid to retain its liquor licence, despite another store just blocks away being left out in the cold.
It was confirmed yesterday the George St Night'n Day store has been granted a renewal of its offl icence, allowing continued alcohol sales, just months after the Octagon Night'n Day store was turned down.
Both decisions were made by the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority (ARLA), which replaced the Liquor Licensing Authority (LLA).
Owen Cameron, the owner of the George St store, was happy with the decision when contacted yesterday, while Octagon store owner Murray Devereux did not return a call.
The decision to grant the offlicence to Mr Cameron's store, on the corner of George and St Andrew St, came after he convinced the authority his business was now operating primarily as a grocery store.
The LLA had previously ruled in October 2011 his business did not qualify for an offlicence because it was not operating primarily as a grocery store.
The business had since been operating under a truncated offlicence, granted to give Mr Cameron time to either adjust his business model or dispose of his remaining alcohol stock.
However, a copy of a new ARLA decision, released yesterday, confirmed Mr Cameron had been granted an offlicence renewal after adjusting his business model.
A hearing, held on May 5, had considered turnover figures which showed 51.27% of store sales were now ‘‘household foodstuffs''.
That meant the store qualified as a grocery store and could continue operating with an offlicence, the decision, dated May 15, said.
The decision came just months after Mr Devereux, the owner of the Octagon Night'n Day store just blocks away, had his application for an offlicence rejected in January, for a third time.
That was because Mr Devereux's store still did not sell enough foodstuffs to qualify as a grocery store, the authority concluded.
Mr Devereux has not ruled out a fourth bid, but could not be contacted yesterday.
Mr Cameron, asked why he thought the two stores were treated differently, said he ‘‘wouldn't have a clue''.
‘‘It's not up to me; it's up to the judge . . . we didn't argue with him.''
