P&Z Okays Kings Liquor Store in Old Greenwich Supermarket

Last month when the P&Z voted down the decades old Town law requiring a 1,000 ft separation between package stores, Kings’ attorney Jane Hogeman argued successfully that the rule inhibited competition, and was obsolete considering the state regulates the maximum number of liquor stores a town is allowed to have anyway.

The demise of the 1,000 ft separation requirement, seemed to have cleared the way for Tuesday night’s vote by P&Z to approve Kings’ request to put a liquor store in the supermarket at 26 Arcadia Rd in Old Greenwich. Kings is less than 1,000 ft from another liquor store, specifically Old Greenwich Fine Wines at 195 Sound Beach Ave, which was just sold to its current owner, Robert Zalkin, in July.

In Greenwich the state allows a maximum of 24 liquor stores. The green light for Kings brings the total to 23.

Approval was granted Tuesday night to “Marmah Inc” (King’s Supermarkets, Inc) to install a separate entry vestibule and convert 400 sq ft of existing supermarket into a package store.

The commission voted unanimously in favor of the the application, with the stipulation that if the liquor store were ever to be operated by an independent owner, any changes would be made to meet state and local health codes.