FARMINGTON -- Walmart Neighborhood Market on Main Street was the first business in Farmington to submit an application for a permit to sell alcohol under the city's new law allowing the sale of retail alcohol within the city limits.
Kum & Go at 90 E. Main St., was the second business to submit an application.
The Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control website provides a list of applications on a weekly basis. Farmington Neighborhood Market is listed as an applicant on the list for the week ending Dec. 9, 2016.
Lori Randall, store manager, submitted the application on behalf of Store #7242, 367 W. Main St. The application requests a permit to sell retail beer and small farm winery.
Kum & Go is listed as an applicant on the list for the week ending Dec. 23, 2016. It requests a permit to sell retail beer.
Randall said the application is in the hands of the ABC Board at this time but if approved, details would be worked out for selling alcohol in her store. She said customers on a regular basis ask about purchasing alcohol at the Neighborhood Market.
"I'm excited to be able to provide a product the area is wanting," Randall said.
A spokeswoman with the Alcohol Beverage Control said the applications from Walmart and Kum & Go should be on the ABC Board's Jan. 18 agenda. The agenda for the meeting has not been released yet, according to the spokeswoman.
Mayor Ernie Penn said the city received a notice from the state about the applications, asking for his input and if the city had any objections or comments about the applications.
"We had no objections to Walmart or Kum & Go," Penn said Thursday.
The new law will allow customers of the stores to have one-stop shopping, Penn said.
"It's going to be another product that consumers can buy in the city of Farmington," he added.
A local committee called Growth for Farmington spearheaded the campaign to get the alcohol question on the ballot. Farmington voters then approved the sale of alcohol in the Nov. 8 general election by a vote of 1,852 to 969.
David Holloway with Growth for Farmington said the group is pleased some businesses have applied for permits to sell alcohol and he believes others will apply for permits in the future.
"We heard the people speak in resounding numbers," Holloway said. "It was a pretty resounding 'yes, we need to grow as a community.' We were pretty confident in the beginning that we had a good grasp of where the community wanted to head."
Holloway said allowing businesses to have the opportunity to sell alcohol will help the community in coming years, as far as increased revenue for city services and in helping local businesses to grow and in bringing in new businesses.
"I think this will help make Farmington a destination city," Holloway added.
Business on 01/11/2017