Quincy Continues Food Sale Ban at Gasoline Stations

The City Council considered changing the decades-old ordinance but decided to keep the status quo.

December 24, 2013

QUINCY, Mass. – You can pick up a cup of coffee and a sandwich at nearly any convenience store or gasoline station, but not in Quincy, Mass. A city ordinance enacted in 1978 prohibits the sale of food at gasoline stations. Last week, the City Council debated changing the three-decades old law but ended up keeping things the same instead by a 6 to 3 vote, Boston.com reports.

“The bottom line is there is no reason to [change] it,” said City Councilor Brian Palmucci. “Why change something for the sake of change? The argument was, ‘Well, we should be modernizing our ordinances.’ This isn’t the one I would start with.”

The change would have allowed gasoline stations with 15,000 to 20,000 square feet of store to sell food. As things stand now, gas retailers can only stock vending machines. Palmucci expressed concerned that changing the law would close down coffee shops with drive-thrus.

“There are a significant number of convenience stores in the city, plenty of options to buy prepared food…I just didn’t see that there was any real outcry to allow gas stations to sell prepared food,” he said.

Three councilors, Margaret Laforest, Mike McFarland and Brian McNamee, supported the bill. “I didn’t think it was a competitive issue for some of the standalone markets,” said McNamee. “It’s also an opportunity for us to get more sales tax revenue, and I thought that was positive.”

However, McNamee did want to keep auto repair shops from offering food, but his amendment to that effect was defeated as well. “I thought it was just bring us on par with other communities that permit that kind of activity,” he said. “I was surprised it was defeated.”

Laforest saw the change as offering more food options to local shoppers. “Ward One, particularly the peninsula area, doesn't have a store on every corner, and I believe would've benefited from giving neighbors options,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “Plus, they are already allowed to sell packaged products. The analogy used was you can pick up Hostess cupcakes but not a cup of coffee. I think a store counter is a better image then a bunch of vending machines.”

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