Plans For Wine Bar On Joliet's Larkin Avenue Rejected By Joliet City Council

JOLIET, IL - Plans to open a wine bar on Joliet's South Larkin Avenue were rejected at Tuesday night's meeting of the Joliet City Council. The council voted unanimously to follow the advice of the city's liquor commission to turn down the request for a Class D liquor license.

The council's vote was hardly a surprise.

At Monday's pre-council meeting, elected officials discussed whether to issue a liquor license to Kathy Wilda. She wants to open Lucky Daisy's in the unit block of South Larkin Avenue, which is a business strip mall.

Daisy's application met a major roadblock last month in front of the city's liquor commission. "Based on the liquor hearing, the Liquor Commission feels that the issuance of the liquor license would not be in the best interest of the city, and therefore recommends denial of the license," stated Bob O'Dekirk, mayor and liquor commissioner, in a memo to the council.

On Monday, Councilwoman Jan Quillman said she struggled to understand why the wine venue needed video gambling machines and why it wanted to open as early as 8 a.m.

Representatives for Daisy's said their business would mainly appeal to area stay-home mothers, and it would also be a café-bistro. The council was told that Daisy's wanted open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.

"Your business (plan) is a little vague right now," Quillman said. "If I were you, I'd revamp this."

Quillman suggested that Daisy's scrap its plans to offer video gambling machines, and focus on wine and painting. After Tuesday night's vote, Quillman urged the entrepreneurs with Lucky Daisy's to reconsider bringing their project back in the future, provided they made changes to their business plans.

Image of commercial strip mall via Google Maps