New Craft Liquor Store Proposed on Halsted

A new liquor store may soon be coming to North Halsted Street to offer specialty wines and craft beers in Lake View, but some neighborhood residents are wondering if the community needs another store selling alcohol.

Pradeep Patel attended Monday’s South East Lake View Neighbors meeting to make his proposal to the group. He currently owns four other boutique-style liquor stores in the area, and says his new business planned for 3151 N. Halsted St. near Belmont Avenue would be similar to that.

“Liquor licenses by definition are not liked by anybody,” Patel said while the group let out a laugh. “I have four businesses in this community, and after purchasing them, I completely remodeled them… I do tend to make a boutique store. It’s a very small space with about 1,500-square-feet.”

Along with other community members at the meeting, SELVN board member Mike Demetriou asked why the area needed another liquor store. With Binny’s Liquor just a few blocks away from the proposed location, Demetriou wondered if the group should be worried about more alcohol on Halsted.

“I live pretty close to that location, and I’m wondering why we need another liquor store,” Demetriou said. “It’s not necessarily a great addition to a street that’s already fueled by alcohol.”

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Patel said the success of the store will depend on the consumers, but he intends to target the customer looking for craft beer or high quality wine that might not be found elsewhere. To his argument, he added that those aren’t the kind of liquors people are drinking when getting into trouble.

Like his store in Rogers Park, Patel agreed to sign a plan of operations that could potentially ban him from selling certain kinds of alcohol. He’ll be back at next month’s SELVN meeting where members will approve or deny his request. 

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