Stars Cinema gains state approval to sell beer and wine

Sales started Nov. 23 after hearing with control board

After a long process, Stars Cinema 6 now sells beer and wine at the movie theater.

The theater began selling beer and wine on Nov. 23, despite first being denied the license in September.

Jake Turner, operations manager at the theater, said they first applied for the license in May.

“We were on track to be approved by July or August and then there was an objection letter written by a public official,” Turner said. “The way it works is if you have an objection letter, you’re automatically denied for your permit.”

Turner said they contested the denial and went for a hearing on Nov. 14, where they presented their case to the Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board in Little Rock.

“They unanimously voted in favor of us,” Turner said. “They said we had one of the best control plans they had ever seen and we were backed up by a lot of people in the community, so everything worked out.”

He said after receiving approval from the board, the theater was ready in about a week to start selling beer and wine.

Turner said the license is called an “on premise beer and wine retail license,” and added that beer and wine are two separate licenses.

How it works:

Turner said they don’t sell beer or wine to PG or G-rated moves, “because that’s where all of the kids are typically going.”

He added that is their own policy.

“The state doesn’t tell us we have to do that, we just decided to do that to make people feel better about it,” he said.

At the concession stand, there is a separate counter where you can only purchase beer or wine. To make a purchase, a customer must present their ticket stub, proving they are not watching a PG or G-rated movie. They then have their photo IDs checked, making sure they are 21 years old or older.

Turner said they are then given a wristband and a brightly colored koozie, “that covers up the beer so kids can’t see the can or what’s on the can.”

With the koozie, Turner said they are also able to see who has beer in their hands in the dark theaters.

“It’s really tightly controlled,” he said. “The beer prices are movie theater prices, so people arn’t going to come to Stars to get drunk on $6.25 beer.”

Also a policy at the theater is the limit of two beers (or wine) per person.

“That’s another one of our policies, that’s not required by the state,” Turner said. “Right now that’s what we feel is an appropriate number.”

Turner said the average human metabolizes 12 ounces of beer per hour, “so a two hour movie with two beers, that should be fine.”

With the first purchase of alcohol, a customer receives the wristband, and with their second purchase, the theater punches the wristband with a hole puncher, showing that they have had their second purchase.

Turner said they had ABC agents give their employees a briefing and educate them on the different laws, including what they should look for concerning fake IDs.

Turner said adding beer and wine is something he has been thinking about for a while. He said that having alcohol in theater is “just the trend that’s going on within the movie theater world.”

He added that they have done their research and have it controlled.

“I think once people come in and they realize it’s not just thrown in their face and we’re handling it responsibly, I don’t think there’s going to be any problems at all,” he said.

Kaitlyn Rigdon can be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected].

Upcoming Events