Section 31 of the Liquor Act 2007, imposes restrictions on types of premises that may be granted a packaged liquor licence.
Relevantly, a 'general store', which is defined as "a convenience store, mixed business shop, corner shop or milk bar that has a retail floor area of not more than 240 square metres and that is used primarily for the retail sale of groceries or associated small items" can NOT be granted a packaged liquor licence unless:
(a) in the neighbourhood of the premises concerned, no other take-away liquor service is reasonably available to the public, and
(b) the grant of the licence would not encourage drink-driving or other liquor-related harm.
In this application for 'Ravi Babu Annamneni' in Corowa NSW, we see an example where the Authority refused the application for a grocery store business because there was another premises in the neighbourhood where take away liquor was available.
This is a great reminder that the Liquor Act contains exclusions that may rule out your liquor licence application based on your business model. Before embarking on a costly community impact statement process and liquor licence application, make sure you know your proposal is eligible, or if subject to an exclusion, that you can establish the relevant exemption.