MOORE, Okla. (KFOR) — Total Wine & More has officially been granted a license to open its first store in Oklahoma in Moore after more than a year of legal back and forth with state regulators.The Oklahoma Alcoholic Beverage Laws Enforcement (ABLE) Commission approved the company’s application on Aug. 20, clearing the way for the new location in Moore to open its doors in the coming weeks. The original dispute stemmed from how Total Wine originally applied for its license.Last year, the retailer sought to operate as a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), which ABLE commission attorneys said is a business structure the Oklahoma Constitution allows to own retail liquor stores.
“Only certain types of business entities can own retail liquor stores,” said Lori Carter, attorney for the ABLE Commission. “You can’t be an LLC or a limited liability company. That’s just the way the Constitution is written… And so we had to deny that application.”
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Carter said Oklahoma’s Constitution only permits sole proprietorships or limited partnerships — essentially businesses tied directly to individuals rather than corporations — to hold liquor licenses.“It has to do really with the liability protections of the members of that partnership,” Carter said.The rules are why most Oklahoma liquor stores are small, family-owned businesses, such as Pancho’s Liquor Town in Oklahoma City, whose owners News 4 spoke with last year.“Sept. 1, 1959 was the first day of no prohibition in the state of Oklahoma, and my dad opened up his first liquor store that day at 10 a.m.,” Pancho’s Owner Brenda Wilson told News 4 in November 2024. When asked last year about the prospect of Total Wine coming to town, Wilson said she worried about competing with a national chain.“Probably put us out of business because we can’t compete with that kind of money,” Wilson said.Despite the license snag, Total Wine moved forward with construction on the Moore storefront.
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Last week, the company returned to the ABLE Commission with a revised application as a Limited Partnership (LP)—rather than as a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP).“They applied for the license again,” Carter said. “And because they met all of the other requirements by statute and constitution, we issued the license.”By Thursday, the parking lot was full of staff training and stocking the store in preparation for opening.“We never had a problem with Total Wine coming to Oklahoma,” Carter said. “We just said you have to abide by our Constitution. And once they were able to come to us with a business entity that met those requirements, we were happy to issue the license.”Total Wine lists several open positions on its website.The company is planning a grand opening for the Moore store within the next few weeks…