decision published on Tuesday<\/a>, the committee said the applicant – which operates several Super Liquor franchises around the south – had “considerable experience” and could supply liquor responsibly.<\/p>\nThe committee noted the company had sold alcohol safely in its other stores and had the resources to do the same in Lake H\u0101wea.<\/p>\n
Earlier, residents voiced concerns that the store would be too close to children, too far from healthcare, and sent the wrong signal about the town’s priorities.<\/p>\n
Some argued there were already enough liquor outlets in the town – with four existing off-licences – while others argued the company should not have applied for a licence before building the store.<\/p>\n
The committee rejected claims that Lake H\u0101wea faced unique risks due to demographics or limited healthcare, adding that those factors did not disqualify a recent grocery store licence application in the area.<\/p>\n
Lake H\u0101wea was not uniquely vulnerable, it said.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/4K71LM9_Media_3_jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nThe site of the proposed liquor store on Longview Drive.
\nPhoto: Supplied\/Lisa Riley\n<\/p>\n
The committee decided it was impractical to require a completed building before granting a licence – instead issuing a legal waiver requiring Queenstown Lakes District Council to provide a Certificate of Public Use or Building Code Compliance Certification before the licence could take effect.<\/p>\n
The Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act did not limit the number of licensed premises in a community, the committee noted.<\/p>\n
The Super Liquor will be able to sell alcohol from 9am – 9pm, Monday to Sunday.<\/p>\n
The committee imposed a ban on single-unit sales of mainstream beer and RTDs, a requirement for frosted glass on the exterior, and a total prohibition on external product or price advertising.<\/p>\n
Community vows to keep fighting<\/p>\n
Community group Voices Against H\u0101wea announced on Tuesday afternoon that it would appeal the decision.<\/p>\n
Resident Lisa Riley called the committee’s decision deeply disappointing but not unexpected.<\/p>\n
She said during the hearing: “It was clear that the threshold being applied was so high that community and public health concerns were never realistically going to succeed.”<\/p>\n
“There was a strong sense that unless harm could be proven with near certainty before the store even exists, the decision had effectively already been made.”<\/p>\n
The appeal will argue that the decision gave too little weight to widespread and consistent community opposition, set an unrealistically high bar for public health evidence, and overlooked long-term risks in a rapidly growing residential area, Riley said.<\/p>\n
The appeal will also contend that approving a liquor licence before the business is built could lock in its use before the community has fully formed, she said.<\/p>\n
Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lisa Riley and her son on the site of the proposed Super Liquor store. Photo: Supplied\/Lisa Riley Plans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-242549","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-podcasts","13":"tag-public-radio","14":"tag-radio-new-zealand","15":"tag-rnz","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Lisa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4K71LNF_Media_1_jpg.jpeg\")
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