EASTHAMPTON – While the city’s bars may be shuttered to curb the spread of COVID-19, the state on March 25 approved 13 new liquor licenses for Easthampton.
“It’s something the council identified as a way to keep new development coming into town,” state Rep. Dan Carey, D-Easthampton, said.
Carey and former state Sen. Don Humason, R-Westfield, introduced legislation a year ago asking for 14 licenses after it passed the City Council. After Humason left the Senate in January to become Westfield’s mayor, Carey helped shepherd through the legislation.
Of the new licenses now available, eight are on-premise all-alcohol licenses and four are on-premise licenses for the sale of wine and malt beverages. One is for the sale of wine and malt beverages not to be drunk on the premises. An additional off-premises wine and malt beverages consumption license was removed during the legislative process.
Three of the on-premises, all-alcohol licenses and two of the on-premises wine and malt licenses are reserved for businesses in the Downtown Business District. The same numbers of licenses in each category are reserved for businesses in the Mill Industrial District, while two on-premises all-alcohol licenses are reserved for businesses in the Highway Business District, along with the one off-premises license for wine and malt beverages.
“The ABCC (Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission) and the state made us attach them to zones,” said Lindsi Mailler, clerk of the Licensing Board, which oversees liquor licenses in the city.
This was the first time new alcohol licenses were attached to certain areas, and originally the city asked for a greater number of licenses for the Mill District. However, the legislation was altered so the distribution was more even.
Mailler said that, even amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, two businesses have already expressed interest in getting alcohol licenses, GROOM Barbershop on Cottage Street and POH-keh Bowl on Union Street.
“The demand’s still there,” Mailler said. She said the new licenses would “absolutely” help the city bounce back once the pandemic restrictions are lifted.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.