Sam's Club Liquor Store Opens

Fayetteville, Ark., Aliquor store attached to a Sam's Club in Fayetteville, Ark. opened this week, despite a continuing legal battle over whether the store's sale of spirits violates state law, according to the Associated Press.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which owns the members-only Sam's Club warehouse stores, received a permit from the state's Alcoholic Beverage Control Division in July. The Arkansas Beverage Retailers Association opposed the permit.

The alcohol-retailers group had argued the Sam's Club liquor store violates state law, which says liquor stores can sell only alcohol and related items. But the Fayetteville Sam's Club is designed so that the liquor store is walled off from the rest of the store and will operate separately, the report said.

Wal-Mart has said the Fayetteville liquor store would hold Wal-Mart's only permit to sell liquor in Arkansas. A state law bars permit holders from having more than one permit.

A Sam's Club membership is not required to shop at the liquor store.