Arlington Heights Target may soon sell liquor

Under Arlington Heights code, liquor cannot be sold within 100 feet of a school, but on Monday the village committee of the whole agreed to waive the rules for the Target on Rand Road across the street from Hersey High School.

Target, 1700 Rand Road, requested a waiver of the village code in January of this year, but between the spring election and several meetings with the school district, the board just took up the subject on Monday.

Store Manager Brad Phillips said the request is not due to decreased sales at the Arlington Heights location but an effort to have consistency among all Target stores. He also said the Arlington Heights Target will soon need to compete with Ultra Foods, set to open soon in Prospect Heights, which will have a liquor license. Target officials will still need to formally apply for and be granted a liquor license with the village before alcohol sales can begin.

“We are not looking to become a liquor store,” Phillips said. “For us it's about having the full selection of what our customers are looking for.”

Phillips said grocery sales make up about 30 percent of the total store sales at Target and that liquor will be a small portion of that grocery division.

Nadia Popova, assets protection business partner with Target, said that the store has a uniformed security officer who will patrol the area and constantly will have high-tech cameras trained on the alcohol section. For additional security the store will “spider wrap” bottles of alcohol with a device that must be removed at the register.

Target computers will also not allow an alcohol purchase to be checked out without scanning the buyer's driver's license, she said.

Phillips said Target will also look at times when there may be more students in the store such as early release days or before and after sporting events and increase security at those times.

Village officials read a statement from Northwest Suburban High School District 214 Superintendent Dave Schuler.

“I cannot support or recommend to the that village approve the request. At the same time we appreciate Target being an important member of our community, we acknowledge and appreciate the work of the village in reviewing applications like this, and we also appreciate the anti-theft security precautions and other concessions Target has committed to making to continue to be a terrific community partner with the district,” the statement read.

While the village code outlines that no liquor can be sold within 100 feet of a school, village assistant attorney Robin Ward said the rules measure from property line to property line, not from door to door. The two property lines are 83 feet apart, but with the Target entrance at the far end of the store, the door-to-door distance is farther.

“I don't see where this is going to be a problem in the long run,” said Trustee Tom Glasgow.