By Susan Adler Thorp

In the many years I’ve observed and written about local business, government, and politics, seldom have I seen a more unfair process than what’s been going on with The Station, the wine and liquor emporium that has been trying to open its doors at 870 South White Station in East Memphis for more than a year.

No matter how hard Ethan Edwards has tried to bring a new retail experience to Memphis, no matter how hard he has tried to follow the archaic and good-old-boy rules that govern the city and state’s liquor retail industry, no matter how many times his requests for a liquor license have been dismissed or ignored by the Tennessee Alcohol and Beverage Commission (TABC), he is still fighting to open The Station in a city desperate for new business and economic growth.

The Memphis Alcohol Commission gave Edwards a Certificate of Compliance in September 2024, confirming that The Station met all local requirements. Mayor Paul Young signed that certificate. Edwards moved to complete construction of The Station. Then after months of inaction regarding multiple license requests from the TABC, Edwards filed a complaint with a Davidson County court asking the court to compel the TABC to do its job.  Over the past 15 months Edwards has invested more than $1 million in opening a new 25,000 square-foot retail store unlike any other in Memphis. Yet his saga drags on.

The common denominator standing between Edwards and opening his store? Namely, Josh Hammond, the owner of Buster’s, by most accounts the city’s leading wine and liquor business. Hammond says he’s just fighting to uphold the law — a 57-year-old city ordinance that requires a liquor store to be at least 1,500 feet from a church, school, park, or library. Hammond argues that The Station is less than 1,500 feet from Woodland Presbyterian Church and School on Park Avenue. In a recent news story, Hammond said he checked the footage with Google Maps. Edwards hired one of the city’s leading engineering firms to measure the distance between The Station and Woodland. The Reaves Firm came up with 1,559.37 feet.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

When Edwards was ready for his state liquor license in February, guess who lobbied the TABC, which then withheld The Station’s application. Yep, Hammond, long an active member of the Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Association (TWSRA) who knows his way around Nashville, including the TABC and its staff.  A month later, Hammond sued the owner of The Station, the Memphis Alcohol Commission and the City of Memphis. Forget the 1,500-foot rule. This time Hammond and his legal team argued that the Memphis Alcohol Commission violated the state’s Sunshine Law and the local court agreed, giving the TABC in Nashville yet another reason not to give The Station a liquor license.

Hammond doesn’t seem to welcome competition. Just ask Mary and Doug Ketchum who moved to Memphis in 2016 and bought Kimbrough Wine & Spirits in Midtown. In 2017, Hammond, along with the TWSRA, sued the Ketchums, citing an obscure state law requiring that one must be a Tennessee resident for two years before owning a liquor store. Three years later, and struggling to pay their legal bills, the Ketchums won their case against Hammond when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Tennessee law unconstitutional because it violated interstate commerce protections of the U.S. Constitution.

From a business protectionist point of view, it’s understandable that Hammond is fighting Edwards and claiming The Station is within 1,500 feet of Woodland. What Hammond isn’t saying is that The Station is almost midway between his Buster’s store on Highland and his Buster’s store on Poplar/I-240. And during the past 13 years when more than a dozen new wine and liquor stores opened in Memphis within 1,500 feet of a church or school, we didn’t hear a peep from Hammond.

Nor has he mentioned that when Buster’s opened in its current location on Highland in 1970, it was within 1,500 feet of two churches: The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer on the northeast corner of Highland and Central, and the Church of Christ, Scientist on the southeast corner of Highland and Central. Both churches operated at Highland and Central since the mid-1950s – long before Buster’s moved to its Highland location two years after the 1,500-foot ordinance was passed in 1968.

It’s Who You Know

So, it’s back to the drawing board for Edwards who apparently is getting an education in politics and government he never wanted. Edwards appears before the Memphis Alcohol Commission again on January 7, seeking another Certificate of Compliance so he can return to Nashville and try again for the liquor license that The Station needs to open. It’s hard to imagine what Hammond and his legal team will come up with next. Based on recent history, smart money says he’ll come up with something to try and stop The Station from competing with Buster’s.

And why not? He’s got the powerful TWRSA behind him and it’s a good bet that folks at the TABC know Hammond and his TWRSA colleagues. Maybe even on a first name basis. According to the TWRSA website, Hammond now serves as the group’s legislative chairman and his brother, Morgan Hammond, sits on the board of directors.

Welcome to the cynical side of politics and government, folks, where what you know is not nearly as important as who you know.

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Susan Adler Thorp is a veteran Memphis journalist.  She was former City Hall reporter and political columnist for The Commercial Appeal and is a regular panelist on ABC24’s This Week. She is the owner of Susan Adler Thorp Communications, which advises clients on communication strategies and effective media coverage.