The West Hollywood Target store will not be selling liquor after a decision the Planning Commission made at its Thursday night meeting.

Located in the Gateway shopping center on the southwest corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and La Brea, Target was petitioning to have its conditional use permit amended to allow for liquor sales. The store has sold beer and wine for off-site consumption since 2005.

According to Target representatives, 22 Target stores in Los Angeles County now have full alcohol sales and another 15 are applying to sell liquor. More than half of the Target stores in California have full alcohol sales.

With the petition for liquor sales came a request to increase the size of the store's alcohol sales area from 72 to 108 linear feet, as well as extended hours the alcohol could be sold. Target's store hours were extended to 11 p.m. in 2009, but their current conditional use permit only allows alcohol sales until 10 p.m.  

Four neighboring businesses sell liquor for off-site consumption – Trader Joe's, Ralphs, Rite Aid and BevMo! Eight nearby restaurants sell liquor for on-site consumption.

Commissioner Lauren Meister was concerned how approving Target’s application would affect those other businesses, pointing out that the continued existence of smaller businesses is one of the city’s planning and land use goals.

Several public commenters pointed out that the BevMo! store, which specializes in alcohol, is in the same shopping center as Target. Their worry was Target would undercut BevMo!’s prices and possibly put them out of business.

Less than 2 percent of Target sales come from alcohol, but almost 100 percent of BevMo!’s sales are alcohol.

The city’s Planning Manager John Keho said the manager of the Gateway Center can insert non-compete clauses into store leases, but apparently has not in this case.

However, the Commission noted that the Gateway Center manager was not there to speak in favor of the conditional use permit, nor was there anyone from BevMo!, the Chamber of Commerce or the community at large.

That lack of community support combined with concerns over protecting small businesses led the commission to vote 7-0 against the amended conditional use permit for Target.

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