Choice Market opened its location in the Golden Triangle in 2021. (Courtesy of Choice Market)
A Golden Triangle convenience store is suing the city after its request to sell alcohol was denied.
Choice Market is a chain of a half-dozen stores and kiosks in Denver. That includes a location at 939 Bannock St., on the ground floor of the Parq on Speer apartment building.
In February, Choice applied for a license to sell beer and wine at that location, which opened in 2021. The plan was to sell local bottles alongside meats and cheese. But in July and again in October, the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses denied that application.
“We were completely shocked,” said Mike Fogarty, Choice Market founder and CEO.
Mike Fogarty
“We were pretty confident that we would get this license. We’re not talking about a bar open until 2 a.m. or a club that’s going to be loud. We’re a grocery store that is trying, in a low-margin business, to survive all the different headwinds we are facing.”
State law prohibits the sale of packaged alcohol within 500 feet of a school. As the city sees it, 939 Bannock is 472 feet from Compassion Road Academy at 1000 N. Cherokee St.
As Choice Market sees it, Denver is wrong.
The city calculates distance in liquor licensing cases by walking the most direct pedestrian route. In May, its inspector walked south down Cherokee, then southeast on Speer, putting him at the Parq building after 472 feet. Therefore, Choice’s license was denied.
In a lawsuit it filed Nov. 3 in Denver District Court, Choice said that Denver’s methodology “clashes with the purpose behind the 500-foot requirement and leads to absurd results.”
Choice is not within 500 feet of Compassion Road, a different corner of the 500,000-square-foot Parq building. The store occupies about 5,000 square feet on the ground floor of the 16-story, 300-unit building.
“Every other time we’ve gotten a license, they’ve measured to the door,” Fogarty said of other Choice locations. “So, they’ve changed how they’re measuring, which prompted this.
“It just makes no sense. It doesn’t protect kids. It needs to be clarified.”
Choice is asking Judge Stephanie Scoville to overturn the city’s denial and grant the store a beer and wine license. The city has not yet responded to the lawsuit in court and a spokesman for Excise and Licenses declined to comment on the case.
Choice’s lawyers are Mark Gibson and Chris Jackson in Holland & Hart’s Denver office.
Fogarty said that he isn’t sure if his Bannock Street location can survive without alcohol sales. Choice is halting all expansion plans until it can get clarity on the city’s alcohol rules.
“We can’t operate in a city where we’re already facing record-high theft, record-high inflation, record-low labor availability, vagrants, property damage — really, every insurmountable headwind we can face as a retailer that is operating in downtown Denver.
“We’re just trying to survive, and now we have another headwind.”
Choice Market opened its location in the Golden Triangle in 2021. (Courtesy of Choice Market)
A Golden Triangle convenience store is suing the city after its request to sell alcohol was denied.
Choice Market is a chain of a half-dozen stores and kiosks in Denver. That includes a location at 939 Bannock St., on the ground floor of the Parq on Speer apartment building.
In February, Choice applied for a license to sell beer and wine at that location, which opened in 2021. The plan was to sell local bottles alongside meats and cheese. But in July and again in October, the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses denied that application.
“We were completely shocked,” said Mike Fogarty, Choice Market founder and CEO.
Mike Fogarty
“We were pretty confident that we would get this license. We’re not talking about a bar open until 2 a.m. or a club that’s going to be loud. We’re a grocery store that is trying, in a low-margin business, to survive all the different headwinds we are facing.”
State law prohibits the sale of packaged alcohol within 500 feet of a school. As the city sees it, 939 Bannock is 472 feet from Compassion Road Academy at 1000 N. Cherokee St.
As Choice Market sees it, Denver is wrong.
The city calculates distance in liquor licensing cases by walking the most direct pedestrian route. In May, its inspector walked south down Cherokee, then southeast on Speer, putting him at the Parq building after 472 feet. Therefore, Choice’s license was denied.
In a lawsuit it filed Nov. 3 in Denver District Court, Choice said that Denver’s methodology “clashes with the purpose behind the 500-foot requirement and leads to absurd results.”
Choice is not within 500 feet of Compassion Road, a different corner of the 500,000-square-foot Parq building. The store occupies about 5,000 square feet on the ground floor of the 16-story, 300-unit building.
“Every other time we’ve gotten a license, they’ve measured to the door,” Fogarty said of other Choice locations. “So, they’ve changed how they’re measuring, which prompted this.
“It just makes no sense. It doesn’t protect kids. It needs to be clarified.”
Choice is asking Judge Stephanie Scoville to overturn the city’s denial and grant the store a beer and wine license. The city has not yet responded to the lawsuit in court and a spokesman for Excise and Licenses declined to comment on the case.
Choice’s lawyers are Mark Gibson and Chris Jackson in Holland & Hart’s Denver office.
Fogarty said that he isn’t sure if his Bannock Street location can survive without alcohol sales. Choice is halting all expansion plans until it can get clarity on the city’s alcohol rules.
“We can’t operate in a city where we’re already facing record-high theft, record-high inflation, record-low labor availability, vagrants, property damage — really, every insurmountable headwind we can face as a retailer that is operating in downtown Denver.
“We’re just trying to survive, and now we have another headwind.”
