PORTAGE, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – It’s a “golden ticket,” a liquor license can cost up to $70,000 on the open market, and last night the city of Portage gave one away for free to an upscale barber shop.
It was the last unallocated license the city received from the state after the last census.
Councilmember Terry Urban thought they should hold out for something special, a big business that needed an incentive to locate in Portage.
He complained none of the three applicants before them met that criteria.
The recommended business is an upscale barber shop, another a nail salon, and the third is a family entertainment center going into the old Sears store at the Crossroads Mall.
Councilmember Jihan Young says the applicant they recommended is a long time Portage businesswoman, who wants to reemploy workers displaced by the tornado.
City Manager Patrick McGinnis says this license has been sitting on a shelf long enough.
Mayor Patricia Randall says they shouldn’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and this is a unique opportunity to create the kind of business usually reserved for bigger towns.
The council voted 5-to-2 to award the license to the Stubble and Stache, where you will soon be able to get a premium whisky or bourbon with that haircut, shave, massage, or body wax.
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