Whole Foods Market in Wellesley got the Board of Selectmen’s blessing on Monday to sell beer and wine for off-premises consumption. Despite being owned by Amazon now, there have been no talks at least for the Wellesley store to offer delivery of alcoholic beverages, a store representative said at the BoS meeting.
The store, which occupies about 46,000 sq. ft. (including the basement) will use about 1,950 sq. ft. for the bulk of its beer/wine stock, which will be located in the space currently used as community space and for cooking classes. Some community space will be relocated to another part of the store.
Whole Foods already sells alcohol in 5 stores across the state.
Fells Market became the first retailer in Wellesley to start selling beer and wine back in 2014 after voters approved a change to town bylaws.
The town can dole out a total of 6 licenses, 3 apiece to food stores (i.e., Fells, Roche & Whole Foods) and specialty food stores (i.e., Wasik’s and Tutto Italiano).
We have an inquiry in to Whole Foods about when to expect beer/wine sales to begin in Wellesley.
This is a success. Now, if we can get the BoS to scrap some of the other silly alcohol licensing things (are we still requiring food with drinks at a bar?), we’d really be talking.
The Square badly needs to be livened up with additional foot traffic. More liberal alcohol licensing (and more family-oriented gastropubs/restaurants instead of high-end steakhouse chains) would help to accomplish that. Let’s hope that something useful goes into the SuSu space. Any intel on that, Mr./Mrs. Swellesley?
I should have added that Needham got this right after they dispensed with being a dry town, and they have it all over us.