The City of Summerville continues to grapple with the requirements for the liquor stores that voters approved in the last election.

The council says that they will limit the number of stores to two and those two stores must be at least 500 yards apart.  Mayor Harry Harvey says that is a state requirement.  Some council members wanted the stores to be on opposite sides of town, but they have since compromised on that requirement.

The council will be requiring that each of the two stores stock $350,000 worth of booze.  Originally, they had talked about requiring a half-million dollars in inventory for each store.  Also, the stores will be paying a $5,000 per year liquor license fee – more if they want to sell beer and wine as well.

Some have criticized the council for such steep requirements saying it shuts smaller business people out of the race for the two licenses that will be granted by a lottery system.