With opponents MIA, Wilmington Riverfront hookah lounge gets OK for liquor license

With no compelling opponents present, the Delaware Office of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commissioner issued an oral decision Thursday granting Pure Flavor Hookah Lounge a license to serve alcohol at its Justison Street location in Wilmington.

The decision issued by Deputy Commissioner Jacqueline Paradee Mette ends an over-yearlong limbo hookah lounge owners James Gittens and Michael Calhum have been in since they voluntarily closed the business in April 2022. They opened again earlier this year, but have limited hours due to their inability to sell alcohol.

Despite Wilmington Riverfront businesses last year collaborating to prevent Pure Flavor from receiving its taproom license, only one business owner spoke during a Thursday evening virtual public hearing held by the beverage control commissioner.

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Westin hotel general manager Bill Silva expressed concern that the lounge wouldn’t serve food alongside alcohol options.

“Without a food element to alcohol services, I just have some concerns with that business in this area,” he said.

That was not a compelling enough argument to deny Pure Flavor a taproom license, Mette said, giving her oral decision to allow the establishment to serve alcohol. A written decision will be forthcoming.

Gittens said he was ecstatic over the decision Thursday evening.

“We want to continue what we’ve always wanted to do, which is make a first-class venue for the city of Wilmington to be proud of,” he said. “And I assure you we will!”

Why was the taproom license contested?

The Black-owned hookah lounge applied for a taproom license in June 2022 after being notified by alcohol enforcement officers in April that they could not use the gathering license they’d received at the business’s previous location at Ninth and Tatnall streets to serve at its riverfront spot at 960 Justison St.

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Unbeknownst to the lounge’s owners, the Wilmington Riverfront Development Corp., area businesses and developers were coordinating opposition to Pure Flavor’s request.

A letter filed in July 2022 by development corporation Executive Director Megan McGlinchey asked the alcoholic beverage control commissioner to deny the license to Pure Flavor, making a litany of allegations against the business that are neither documented by Wilmington police nor definitively linked to the hookah lounge.

Behind the scenes, McGlinchey also rallied the Buccini-Pollin Group and other riverfront businesses to submit their own letters of opposition.

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The letters and petitions submitted that prompted the public hearing remain in the public record, but any details and allegations spelled out in them hold no weight unless a protester speaks at the hearing, Mette said.

Protesters must live or own property within a 1-mile radius of Pure Flavor in order to weigh in.

"The protests filed with this office identified a few issues that were raised within the content of the protests, but that content has to be raised during the hearing in order for it to be considered," Mette said.

Does hookah violate Delaware Indoor Clean Air Act?

The primary concern for the beverage control commissioners was whether issuing a taproom license to an establishment where smoking tobacco indoors occurred violated the state's Indoor Clean Air Act.

Although the commissioners do not enforce this law – that's the responsibility of the state Department of Health and Social Service's Division of Public Health. Mette explained to attendees Thursday that the office is responsible for ensuring that other state laws aren't violated when issuing a liquor license.

A state health department investigator, subpoenaed by the hookah lounge's attorney, testified that a hookah lounge doesn't explicitly violate the Clean Indoor Air Act.

"There's nothing prohibiting a hookah lounge from existing in the Clean Indoor Air Act per se," the health investigator Reginald Patterson testified. "The Clean Indoor Air Act actually stipulates that products can be consumed in a vape lounge, which they classify hookah lounge as, and that's actually written into the Clean Indoor Air Act."

What does this mean for the hookah lounge?

Pure Flavor currently operates from midnight to 4 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

With the ability to sell alcohol, Gittens said they will be able to return to regular business hours.

Gittens anticipates returning to normal hours within the next few weeks.

Got a tip? Contact Amanda Fries at afries@delawareonline.com, or by calling or texting 302-598-5507. Follow her on X at @mandy_fries.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Despite early pushback, Wilmington hookah lounge OK to sell alcohol