Downtown venues must be allowed to offer beer, wine

Count The Laurinburg Exchange as being 100% behind the efforts to get a state statute changed to allow for the sale of beer and wine locally.

Chris English, executive director of the Laurinburg/Scotland County Area Chamber of Commerce, has gathered the support of local organizations like Scotland County Economic Development, Scotland County Tourism Authority, Laurinburg City Council, Downtown Advisory Council and Scotland County Chair Carol McCall.

This is an effort that is long overdue and we applaud those groups and individuals who are behind the effort.

According to the law, businesses that plan to sell malt beverages on-premises must purchase a mixed beverage or hard liquor permit — which is extremely expensive and often kills a business plan. In addition, that business must show that a minimum of 30% of its sales come from food sales.

It’s a law that shows severe discrimination toward those businesses which plan to offer beer and/or wine only. It’s also a law that may be aimed only at a few communities like Laurinburg.

English said recently that “the constraint the current statute placed on our community impacts our ability to attract businesses that often driving retail and main street growth in other towns,” and we couldn’t agree with him more. He also stated that businesses like pubs, taprooms and breweries often serve as community hubs and can greatly grow economic development — also a proven fact we can’t help but agree with.

As has been pointed out, folks of all ages tend to seek out gathering places that offer an array of entertainment options. For Laurinburg, that usually means folks will travel to other counties like Moore, Robeson and Cumberland to find those spots.

This effort, however, will need much more backing than simply those at the local level. While that is important, the real muscle of the effort will come from our elected state officials — Rep. Garland Pierce and Sen. Tom McInnis — and we hope getting their support will be a slam dunk.

From there, the request to remove the statute will go to the General Assembly. Quite honestly, there would seem to be very little if any reason for lawmakers to vote against the request.

There can be no debate on whether Laurinburg and Scotland County have forward-thinking individuals in place who want the best for the downtown area and the communities they serve. And in this case, downtown Laurinburg has a number of locations that would be perfect for entertainment spots like a live music venue, sports bar and brewery. The ability to offer a beer or wine list would make the downtown a destination, especially for the 20-something crowd.

We gladly lend our support to the much-needed effort.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Uptown is for people who have already done something. Downtown is where they are doing something now. I live uptown but I love downtown.” (Andy Warhol)