PORT ANGELES — The liquor license for the Walmart Supercenter at 3411 E. Kolonels Way was suspended last week until Tuesday after state officials said the store sold liquor to a minor.
The store is prohibited from selling beer, wine or liquor to the public. The suspension began Thursday and will end at 11 a.m. Tuesday.
“It looks like they failed a compliance check,” said Mikhail Carpenter, state Liquor and Cannabis Board spokesman.
Assistant Manager Haley Houk at the Port Angeles store said she couldn’t comment and directed inquiries to the Wal-Mart corporate office in Benton, Ark., which did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
According to a sign posted in the store’s liquor aisle by the Liquor and Cannabis Board, alcoholic beverages “shall not be removed, sold, delivered, served or consumed at this establishment during the period of this suspension.”
In a compliance check, “we go in with an investigative aid who is under 21, and they attempt to buy alcohol,” Carpenter said.
In this case, the investigative aid performed the compliance check June 12 and was able to purchase a bottle of hard liquor, Carpenter said.
The store was then cited by the Liquor and Cannabis Board.
Since it was a first-time offense for the store, it had the option of choosing to pay a $1,000 fine or serving out a five-day suspension in alcohol sales, Carpenter said.
“It looks like they chose the monetary fine,” he said.
“However, the check they had written did not make it here in time, and so they ended up with a suspension.
“All payments must be postmarked within 20 calendar days of the date of service.”
The store “can continue to sell as soon as they serve their suspension,” Carpenter said.
But if the store “were to sell again to a minor and have another public safety violation, their penalty would increase,” he noted.
The Liquor and Cannabis Board regularly inspects stores to ensure they are in compliance with state law, Carpenter said.
“We run compliance checks quite frequently. They are a proven tool to prevent underage sales for both alcohol and marijuana,” he said.
“We take our public safety mission very seriously. Keeping alcohol and marijuana out of the hands of minors is paramount in our job.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.