MSU students now have a new place to make beer and wine purchases.
The East Lansing City Council approved Rite Aid Corporation’s request for a liquor license at their new store, which recently opened near the intersection of Saginaw Street and Abbot Road.
Like the two other East Lansing Rite Aids, located on East Grand River Avenue and Lake Lansing Road, the new Rite Aid will sell beer, wine and other packaged alcoholic beverages. Alcohol purchases can be made between 8 a.m. and midnight, said Darcy Schmitt, the city’s planning and zoning administrator.
The liquor license request passed 4-1 during Tuesday’s City Council meeting at City Hall, 410 Abbot Road. Councilmember Kevin Beard rejected the measure because he said it would needlessly add to alcohol availability in the city.
“I’m going to voting against this because of the addition of packaged liquor,” Beard said. “If it were just beer and wine, it would probably be OK.”
The other council members couldn’t justify declining Rite Aid the same privileges as the other pharmacies in the city.
The new Rite Aid, which opened after Thanksgiving, encompasses a single-story, 14,564 square-foot building with two drive-through windows. The store is located at 111 E. Saginaw St. — an area previously occupied by a Sunoco service station.
A public hearing preceded the council’s decision, during which community members were allowed to voice their opinions about the proposed license.
During the hearing, East Lansing resident Kay Fritz, who was the only person to speak, said she was opposed to the proposal.
“It’s too close to the high school, and it’s too close to my neighborhood,” she said.
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