Should Downtown Evanston Starbucks Be Allowed to Serve Alcohol?

The downtown Evanston Starbucks store is hoping to pour not just coffee and Frappucinos but also local craft beers and a selection of wine for its customers at 1734 Sherman Ave. 

Given the store’s proximity to Northwestern University, as well as the constant stream of students, however, that idea didn’t sit well with all city council members.

Aldermen discussed a liquor license for Starbucks at a council meeting Monday night, and Ald. Don Wilson (4th Ward) moved to held the request for a vote until a future meeting. Starbucks’ request for a liquor license was originally scheduled for introduction only at the meeting, but the company hoped that aldermen would suspend the rules and vote on the license Monday, so the store could get started before the holidays.

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“Are we going to start letting all coffee shops serve alcohol?” said Wilson, who hoped to gather more information from his constituents before voting on the matter. “This seems to be a pretty big change from what we’ve got going on.”

Starbucks has already started selling a limited selection of beer and wine at several stores in Illinois, California and Washington, according to Harlan Powell, an attorney for Starbucks. Locally, Powell said the company has already begun selling alcohol at stores in Burr Ridge and in Chicago.

If the liquor license is approved, Evanston’s downtown Starbucks would sell three to four local craft beers and three to four wines, by the glass only, according to Powell. All staff members would be trained in the state’s alcohol certification program, and baristas would serve alcohol at the tables so that they could monitor the situation. 

Called “Starbucks evenings,” the new plan is designed to bring people into the store during the evening before going to the movies or while hosting a book club, Powell said. The store will also sell plates of meat and cheese that customers can order along with the alcohol. 

While many aldermen said they liked the concept, Ald. Melissa Wynne (3rd Ward) expressed concern about the number of underage college students who might try to buy alcohol with fake IDs. 

“Every time I’ve been in it, it’s packed with Northwestern students,” Wynne said. “I don’t think it’s really going to be the book groups, like I belong to, that are going there.”

But Powell said that Starbucks recently began selling alcohol at another store close to DePaul University in Chicago, at Sheffield and Diversey, and had not had problems there.

“There was some substantial concern expressed initially by the local aldermen because you have such a high concentration of college students biking, walking to that location,” he said. “Quite frankly, it’s been a non-issue because Starbucks does not provide that type of environment.” 

Other aldermen said they were concerned that allowing Starbucks to serve alcohol might be unfair to other cafes and retail shops in Evanston, including wine stores, which currently cannot serve wine by the glass. 

“I have no problem issuing Starbucks—because of their corporate oversight—a liquor license for beer and wine,” said Ald. Ann Rainey (8th Ward). “But I am wondering how we can apply equitably this license, or not apply it equitably to other small businesses.” 

She suggested that city council members should take a closer look at the liquor license code to see whether the city was being fair.

Members of the city council are expected to vote on the matter in two weeks, at the next regularly scheduled city council meeting.