Suwanee Businessman Seeking Package Store in Grayson

Officials in the  are getting an early start Tuesday - and expecting a long night - as they listen to 

The public hearing on the matter is scheduled to kick off at , an hour earlier than the usual time.

After a successful , the measure passed by an almost . But that appears to have been the easy part. There are now three applicants for only one license. The city has to decide to whom to award it without opening itself up for a potential lawsuit. Not an easy task since at least two applicants are going to walk away unhappy.

The  consideration given to such issues as background and history of the applicant as well as the proposed location of the package store. Also to be considered is the applicant's financial ability to build or remodel the property for the proposed package store as well as the ability to operate for up to five years. Previous experience is also a consideration.

With no package stores allowed in Lawrenceville, Snellville and Loganville – at least not yet – the successful applicant stands to make a lot of money. The city also should get substantial revenue from the alcohol excise tax – some put it at about $300,000 per store, per year. However, it might not be a good idea for anybody to count on that revenue just yet. A lawsuit could possibly hold up the matter for a while and, in the meantime, right next door in .

Loganville Mayor Ray Nunley has said he is in favor of the citizens getting to vote on the matter as they did in Grayson. He said, if successful, Loganville would likely issue two licenses – one in Gwinnett County and one in Walton County. However, under Georgia law, a petition is required before the matter can even be put on the ballot. That can be an expensive campaign to mount.

The applicants

Joe Kalish

In Grayson, the campaign to get the item on the ballot was mounted by Joe and Beth Kalish, owners of . Founder of the , Michelle Couch, headed up the Grayson Forward campaign last summer on behalf of the Kalishes,  Once that was done, Grayson Forward then mounted a campaign to solicit voter support for the measure. The efforts were successful and the measure passed in  It is that effort, and the expense involved, that will make it a bitter pill for the Kalishes to swallow if their application is not the successful one. Although the couple does not live inside the city limits, their business is located inside the city limits and they are 

Heather Weaver

Not much is known about Heather Weaver at this time, except that she is connected to a Madison package store. Russ Weaver is listed by Manta.com, a small business online resource, as owner of Bottle Shop & Liquor-Madison in Madison.

Richard Tucker

Richard Tucker is a resident of Suwanee and a prominent business owner in Gwinnett County. He is on the on the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia and is chairman of the Gwinnett Convention & Visitors Bureau. Tucker owns a package store in Suwanee – and recently turned over ownership in another.  that Tucker had “redeployed” one of those stores, the one on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, to business partner and another prominent Gwinnett County businessman, Wayne Mason. Tucker is quoted in Suwanee Patch as saying, “We are good friends. We are open to doing that with anything that we own.” However, under Georgia law, nobody is permitted to have any financial interest in more than two package stores.

While both Weaver and Tucker do appear to already have experience in running package stores, one of the criteria to be considered in the “weighting” system, neither have had businesses in the city – at least not prior to this process getting under way. What remains to be seen is whether that experience - and business clout - is able to outweigh an already  and the initial investment in bringing a package store, and the revenue from it, to city coffers.