42.11.311    AGENCY LIQUOR STORE PROXIMITY TO GROCERY STORES

(1) Agency liquor stores may not be located in or adjacent to grocery stores in communities with populations over 3,000.

(2) The department shall consider a retail establishment to be a grocery store if:

(a) the establishment maintains food inventory with a cost of $5,000 or greater; and

(b) the department determines that the establishment's primary purpose is to sell products other than alcoholic beverages.

(3) An agency liquor store and a grocery store shall not be considered to be adjacent to one another where the stores are located across a street from one another. The department shall consider the agency liquor store and grocery store to be adjacent to one another if:

(a) the agency liquor store and the grocery store share a common internal or external wall; or

(b) there is an absence of a building between the agency liquor store and the grocery store that is owned by a party unrelated to any party with an ownership interest in the grocery store; and

(c) the distance between the nearest exterior wall of the agency liquor store and the grocery store is equal to or less than 100 feet.

(4) The prohibition in (1) does not apply when an agency liquor store was located on the site prior to a grocery store undertaking occupancy adjacent to the agency liquor store.

(5) The definition of a grocery store in (2) and the criteria for stores being adjacent to one another in (3) shall not be applied to determine the location suitability for agency liquor stores that are in operation as of January 1, 2016, unless the agency liquor store elects to relocate or expand an existing store.

History: 16-1-303, MCA; IMP, 16-2-101, MCA; NEW, 2015 MAR p. 2162, Eff. 12/11/15.