Tag Archives: Sam’s Club

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Wipe out dry precincts

An idea for a Texas constitutional amendment came to me today as I read a newspaper story about a petition to allow for beer and wine sales at a retail outlet planned for a Potter County justice of the peace precinct.

Let’s call for an amendment to the Texas Constitution that allows Potter County to get rid of the prohibition.

For that matter, why not vote statewide on eliminating all dry county precincts?

Are we up for it?

At issue is a petition to allow a proposed Sam’s Club box store planned for a site in far west Amarillo. It sits in JP Precinct 3, which is dry. To buy a mixed drink or a cold beer in JP 3, you have to join a private “club.” I found this out when I first moved to Amarillo in January 1995. I went to dinner one night, ordered a beer at Hoffbrau on Interstate 40 and Coulter, but had to join a club to buy a drink.

What a joke.

I’ve never quite understood, to be candid, how dry precincts and counties continue to have any relevance in this mobile society of ours.

As for the Sam’s Club petition, to deny the retailer the chance to sell alcoholic beverages — beer and wine — is to deny the company a chance to enhance its profit, earn more revenue, thrive in a growing business climate. Why not allow the sale?

I’m guessing it would require a constitutional amendment to enact the change, given that Texas counties are governed by state statute. Under state law, any constitutional amendment — no matter how “local” its implication — requires a vote of all Texans.

The entire notion of dry justice of the peace precincts is an archaic notion that needs to be tossed aside.

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Stop the presses! It’s Sam’s!

This is a bit of a head-scratcher.

Amarillo City Hall has disclosed that a new retailer is coming to Amarillo. It’s a Sam’s Club “big box retail user” that’s going to be built near Soncy Road and Interstate 40.
Why am I scratching my head over this one? Well, the Amarillo Globe-News filed a public information request to the city seeking confirmation of what apparently had been a secret.

I’m still not sure why this event was shrouded in mystery.

The City Council annexed some land where the store will be built on Feb. 11. The city said only that a “big box retailer” was coming in.

Rumors began to fly. I had heard Costco was introducing itself to Amarillo, and that it would be the store coming to the location. Sam’s also was kicked around the rumor mill. A friend of mine in the commercial real estate business would tell me about two weeks ago he had heard it would be Sam’s. I’m guessing he had connections at City Hall, as he was able to say it with quite a bit of confidence.

However, the city kept this guessing game going for reasons that escape me.

Walmart, the parent company of Sam’s, didn’t return calls to local media. Nor did a consultant who is working on design specifications for the project.

It just seems a bit weird that information such as this would be kept so hush-hush. Was there some confidentiality stipulation that prevented the city from identifying the retailer? If so, why couldn’t the say just say so?

What am I missing here?