Shopping At Skokie Mariano's? You Can Have Drinks With Dinner

You'll be able to drink wine, beer or liquor with your meal at the Mariano's grocery store being built at Touhy Avenue and McCormick Blvd. in Skokie. 

You'll also be able to enjoy eating at an outdoor dining area, once warm weather arrives. 

However, you won't be able to carry that drink around the store, as you can at some Mariano's locations. Neither will you be able to bring it to the outdoor patio.

Earlier: Mariano's Gets Closer To Realization

These developments came about last week, after the Skokie Plan Commission voted to approve them and its chairman, Paul Luke, appeared before the Skokie Village Board recommending that they, too, approve them. They did, unanimously, alhough village board members asked some questions first.

The board was asked to approve a fenced-in 790 square foot outdoor dining area with nine tables which seat four each, the selling of plants and garden materials outdoors and a special use permit for serving beer, wine and liquor to patrons dining in the store's indoor eating areas.

In response to questions from Trustee Ralph Klein about whether Mariano's lets customers carry alcoholic drinks as they move around the store shopping, Max Dickman, manager of real estate development for Roundy's, Inc., which owns Mariano's, said that at stores in some municipalities, customers can buy a glass or cup of a drink and walk around the store with it. 

In the Skokie store, though, Mariano's will limit alcohol consumption to the designated dining area, he said.

"Technically, it's a bar license, but we see it as a complement to our food service," he explained. 

Mariano's will not let patrons carry alcoholic drinks to the outdoor dining area, Dickman said.

The village board passed the measures unanimously.

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