SPRINGDALE — Macadoodles plans to open three more franchise liquor stores in Arkansas but would not be allowed to under legislation set to be heard today in a state Senate committee, said Roger Gildehaus, company president.
"It will kill the franchising of liquor stores in Arkansas," the Bentonville resident said of House Bill 1282.
AT A GLANCE
What The Bill Says
House Bill 1282 would "clarify that a liquor permit applies to one location and a person, firm, or corporation shall not use a liquor permit for multiple locations."
Source: Staff Report
The bill, which the state House of Representatives approved last week on a 92-3 vote, is scheduled for a hearing today in the seven-member Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs. Legislation must be approved by the full House and Senate before going to Gov. Mike Beebe for his consideration. The Senate committee is set to convene at 10 a.m., according to the General Assembly website.
Gildehaus said he plans to allow franchise owners to open liquor stores under the Macadoodles name in Fayetteville, Fort Smith and Little Rock. He owns Macadoodles stores in the Missouri towns of Pineville, Joplin, and Republic. A franchise owner, Tyler Austin, opened a Macadoodles store in Springdale in April 2010, he said.
Gildehaus said the three other Arkansas stores would create at least 150 jobs.
Franchisees are independent business people who own and operate their stores under the company trademark, pay a fee to the company and adhere to company standards, according to franchise industry websites.
Arkansas has 419 liquor stores, said Michael Langley, director of the state Alcohol Beverage Control Division. Each person who owns a liquor store must have a state permit, he said. An Arkansas permit holder who owns a liquor store cannot have a different permit holder open another store under the same name, he said.
Gildehaus does not have a liquor permit in Arkansas, Langley said.
House Bill 1282 closes a loophole permitting someone who does not hold a liquor license in Arkansas to allow franchise owners to open stores in the state under the company brand, Langley said
Langley said the agency is not taking a position on the bill but will "enforce whatever law comes out." However, he said the agency will recommend an amendment in the committee to ensure all permit holders are operating under the same rules. If the committee passes the amended bill, the measure would have to return to the House for approval.
Three companies that owned multiple stores before 1971 were allowed by a law at that time to continue operating those stores, Langley said. One of the three is the Springdale Liquor Association, which operates seven stores in Springdale, he said. Another of the companies is in Little Rock. The third is in southern Arkansas, Langley said.
Gildehaus said the bill is an effort by the Springdale Liquor Association and its president, Jim Phillips, to prevent Macadoodles from expanding. A person who answered the association's phone Friday said she could not comment on the legislation but would ask Phillips to contact the reporter by telephone or e-mail for comment. Phillips had not responded by Monday evening.
State Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, who is chairwoman of the state agencies committee, said Monday she had not studied the bill but is opposed to a proliferation of liquor stores in the state. Madison said she lived in Louisiana, where "you have drive-through martini bars."
"Pretty soon we're going to have liquor stores on every corner," she said.
Rep. Robert Dale, R-Dover, who sponsored the House bill, said the measure was written at the request of the Arkansas Beverage Retailers Association. He said the retailers association provided him with "talking points" to use in discussing the bill. One talking point says a liquor store should be locally owned, Dale said. With locally owned stores, the proprietor might recognize an underage person trying to buy alcohol and refuse to sell to that person, Dale said.
Dale said the bill is not targeted at Macadoodles.
An Internet listing for the association has no phone number but gives its address as a post office box in Russellville, Ark.
The association's lobbyist, Cami Boggess, said last week the bill is needed because there has been confusion about franchising by "some people who didn't read the law well." Boggess works for the Little Rock lobbying firm DBH Management Consultants, which handles lobbying work for clients, including the Arkansas Beverage Retailers Association, on a contract basis, she said.
Gildehaus said the association has 38 members, including the stores owned by the Springdale Liquor Association.