Off-licence denied in Masterton

DENIED: The owners of the New Super Store at the Western Plains Plaza in Upper Plain Rd in Masterton will appeal a Masterton District Council licensing committee decision to deny the traders an off-licence for the business. PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA

Owners of a Masterton "grocery store" were denied an off-licence after inspectors found they were selling more than 600 bottles of alcohol but only a handful of fruits and vegetables at the site.

The Masterton District Council licensing committee, in a reserved decision, turned down applicants Bhupendra T Maisuriya and Sonali Bhupendra Maisuriya, who were seeking an off-licence for their business The New Supers Store at the Western Plains Plaza on Upper Plain Rd.

The application was refused after a hearing in the town earlier this month as committee members did not believe The New Super Store was operating primarily as a grocery store, under which description the owners were seeking the off-licence to sell alcohol from 7am and 9pm daily.

The business had held an off-licence since 2004, the couple said in their application, and they had taken over as owners in October. The pair described the business variously in their application as a grocery, dairy shop and grocery (convenience) store but at the hearing stated the business "is definitely a grocery store".

The previous owners had failed to provide an itemised breakdown of sales, although the couple upgraded the till and had submitted an itemised sales breakdown that showed more than half of their sales were household foodstuffs among a wide range of products on offer.

The pair had been selling more milk and bread since taking over, they said, and while admitting there was only a small supply of fruit and vegetables on display at the shop, they re-stocked weekly across the board and intended to operate the same business model as the previous owners.

Licensing inspectors had visited and found the business had the characteristics of a dairy and not a grocery store, which principally sells a range of foodstuffs and household items.

Council inspector Tamsin Sutherland told the hearing she doubted the veracity of the 12-month revenue breakdown supplied with the application, and said there were food items listed that were either not stocked at the shop or had been over-represented in the sales account.

Photographs taken during the inspection showed the entire range of fruit and vegetables for sale had comprised 4kg of apples, half a dozen lemons, three oranges, 8kg of onions, 500g of carrots and two tomatoes.

The alcohol inventory offered on the same day was in "stark contrast" and comprised at least 600 bottles of alcohol, the hearing was told.

Constable Dean Fawcett, who opposed the application, said the New Super Store was "a grocery store in name only and its current off-licence has been superseded by the new Act".

Nicola Poona, representing the Medical Officer of Health, agreed the shop would be more rightly called a dairy or convenience store.

Licensing committee members found the business was "not a grocery store" as described in licensing legislation, and consequently refused the application.

The applicants' lawyer, Gareth Bodle, has confirmed an appeal had been filed against the ruling.