Riverside may soon expand the kinds of liquor licenses it offers.
Village trustees on Thursday directed staff to look into creating a new class of liquor licenses for salons and to amend the village code to properly define a bring-your-own-bottle license.
The first kind of license, if approved, would permit salons in Riverside to serve alcohol to guests.
“Neighboring municipalities who have this class type can specify things like limit[ing the] number of drinks for folks, specific types of alcohol that can be served, and clearly stat[ing] that people must be receiving salon services in order to also be served alcohol,” Village Clerk Emily Stenzel said.
She said Riverside now has 12 salons, spas and barber shops that could qualify to obtain such a liquor license, though none of them have approached the village in search of a license.
Trustee Jill Mateo said she felt village staff should reach out to the 12 businesses and ask whether they would obtain and use a liquor license before dedicating more time to researching and drafting the ordinance.
“What if nobody expresses an interest? Do we still want to do the work?” she asked.
Trustee Cristin Evans agreed, saying she wouldn’t want to ask staff to take on more work if it won’t be useful to the village.
Village President Doug Pollock said he thought the creation of a salon liquor license could attract new businesses who wish to sell alcohol while providing cosmetic services.
“I have seen this trend in business operations. I once handled a zoning approval for a running shoe store who wanted to sell craft beer, and they did,” he said. “A lot of retailers are looking for unique ways to draw customers into their businesses.”
In contrast to the salon liquor license, Stenzel said a BYOB license already exists in some portions of Riverside’s municipal code, but it is not defined in other sections. Such a license would give a business permission to have customers bring their own beer or wine for consumption.
Stenzel said one business had approached the village about obtaining a BYOB liquor license, prompting village staff to discover its inconsistent definition across the code.
“This ordinance we draft would not permit that business to have the license type,” she said. “[BYOB liquor licenses] would still need to be passed by the village board.”
The board unanimously agreed to keep the BYOB license as already defined and have staff draft an ordinance clarifying what it allows.
Trustee Elizabeth Kos said she thought the village should seek to educate business owners about the need to apply for such a license after it is standardized.
“I wonder how many businesses are aware that they would need a liquor license to do this,” she said. “Businesses might be surprised to find out that this is something they need a license for. If somebody brings it in, [it’s a] ‘How do I know what’s in their cup?’ kind of thing.”
