Dan Slavin, owner of the building in the 7400 block of Manchester where Craft Beer Cellar wants to open a store, called 40 South on Saturday to say he hopes supporters come to the Maplewood council meeting on Tuesday.
Letters and phone calls to the councilmen and mayor followed the defeat (6-1) of Craft Beer Cellar’s request for a permit to open a store in Maplewood.
The proposal isn’t on the agenda, but it can be reintroduced if a council member who voted against it brings it up and it gets a second.
Slavin said the Craft Beer Cellar owners, Brandon and Ryan Nickelson, plan to talk at the meeting and answer any of the officials’ questions.
- Beer business founders recommend Craft Beer Cellar to city officials
- Craft Beer Cellar now optimistic about Maplewood, employee says
- Maplewood commission OKs ordinance to allow craft beer shop
He said David Schlafly and Harley Frankel, who own the buildings to the east and west support it. The council members have already received letters from Karen King, owner of Side Project Cellar and Dan Kopman, co-founder of Schlafly Beer supporting the store.
Slavin also said he has a letter from Maplewood commercial building owner Rob Birenbaum that he plans to read at the meeting.
Slavin said he and Brian Pelletier, owner of Kakao Chocolate and Larder & Cupboard, talked about selling other Maplewood-made products in the store, such as Kakao Chocolate and pies from Pie Oh My. (Correction: This previously stated that Slavin said Pelletier was opposed to Craft Beer Cellar. Pelletier said by email that he supports it.)
Slavin has turned down other businesses for the spot including a smoke shop, which he said he didn’t think that would enhance Maplewood’s future.
“You don’t get this opportunity to get someone who does a million dollars in sales (which they do at the Clayton store, he said) in a section that’s not an ‘A’ location in Maplewood,” Slavin said. “If we can get them there, not only will it become an ‘A’ location, but their traffic will walk all the way down the street. I have 80 parking spots behind my building, so people will park to the west and then walk to the east and visa versa.”
The big issue is whether or not they will carry Guatemalan fabric there?
The Smelsers reallyhope this business is able to come to Maplewood!
There it is. Confirmed that Larder & Cupboard lobbied against this. Not a good look, guys.
I can assure you that Larder & Cupboard had no contact with council members and did not lobby against Craft Beer Cellar. We are a specialty food store, not a liquor store. Our focus is small batch, handcrafted artisan foods from small producers. We have a very small selection of local craft beer and spirits that complement the specialty items we carry. To believe that our minimal amount of beer (maybe $200 worth) is competition to a multi-million dollar beer business is ridiculous at best. It is a very small part of our inventory. Think about it… it’s hardly lobby worthy.
To be perfectly honest, I only know one council member, and we’ve never spoken about CBC. And he voted in favor. Another bit of honesty… I don’t even know the other council members names. Embarrassing, I know. I’m pretty sure they don’t know who I am either. I only know Barry because he worked on our buildout for Larder & Cupboard.
It would be great if you would stop pointing fingers and looking for a scapegoat. Larder & Cupboard had nothing to do with any decisions made about CBC. A fact check by the media would have revealed that no, Brian is not against CBC and no one from Larder & Cupboard lobbied the council against CBC. Amazingly, not once has Larder & Cupboard been contacted or questioned about CBC.
As a craft beer lover, and business person, I believe that CBC would be a great addition to Maplewood. It will make Maplewood even more of a beer destination. Increasing visitors to Maplewood is good for all businesses. Especially a business that sell goods that complement craft beer. Why wouldn’t I want more customers?!!! Seriously, I would have to be an idiot to not think they would be a good addition….
Please, instead of publicly making false accusations, talk to your council members and the people who were actually involved in the decision making process.
Thank you!
I’m sorry I didn’t contact you for a clarification, Cindy and Brian. Thanks for commenting.
Thank you for the correction, Doug!
brian told me in his store that he was in favor of craft beer cellars coming to maplewood. we talked about craft beer cellars working with his business’ and others. its going to be great synergy. hope to see all the support on tuesday. there will be an open forum at the beginning of the meeting which will allow people to voice their support.
dan slavin
Thank you, Dan! We appreciate the clarification!
Marc, As Cindy from Larder & Cupboard stated, they have nothing to do with decisions of the city council. I didn’t know all the facts at the time of this comment, but I did know that the amount of beer sold by L&C, a specialty food store, is much less than would be sold by CBC, if they come to Maplewood. Also, that neither would pose any threat to the other. I apologize for any harm done by my not stating this at the time. In the future I’ll try to be more proactive when I see inaccuracies here that could be damaging to a reputation.
I plan to be there! It will be the first council meeting I will have attended since moving to Maplewood 2.5 years ago.
same here
Hope to see some of you there on Tuesday.
Comments are closed.