Santa Cruz County Responsible Alcohol Merchant Award Winners of 2012

58 Business Owners Recognized As Responsible Alcohol Merchants

Santa Cruz County, CA — July 1, 2012 — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Santa Cruz County Friday Night Live Partnership youth are excited to announce the winners of the 12th Annual Responsible Alcohol Merchant Awards (RAMA) Program.  RAMA recognizes Santa Cruz County alcohol merchants who actively work to restrict alcohol sales to minors and are compliant with alcohol beverage control regulations. This year, we are pleased to recognize 58 business owners.

In 2009, underage customers consumed 17.5% of all alcohol sold in California, totaling $3,352 million in sales (in 2010 dollars). These sales provided profits of $1,641 million to the alcohol industry.  For this reason, Friday Night Live youth have partnered with alcohol retailers to actively discourage and limit youth access to alcoholic beverages. To directly address the issue of underage sales FNL youth conduct on-site evaluations with merchants to assess their carding and training procedures, store layout and security measures to deter theft, and asked all participating merchants to sign and prominently display a “Merchant Committed” pledge that demonstrates the merchant’s dedication to not provide alcohol to youth.

 Merchants who met the highest grading criteria in all areas, and have a clean Alcoholic Beverage Control record are being recognized as Exemplary Merchants. The merchants, who met a majority of the requirements and have a clean ABC record, are recognized as Honorable Merchants.  All first year winners receive a certificate and multi-year winners receive a plaque that they display to illustrate their commitment to preventing underage drinking to their patrons as well as encourage the employees to continue their responsible practices.

 RAMA is a program of Santa Cruz County Friday Night Live Partnership and Project CURB (Communities United to Reduce Bingeing), and is supported by Community Prevention Partners Collaborative. For additional information, please contact us at 454-5483. 

Sincere congratulations and thanks to each of these merchants for making Santa Cruz County a safer place for our youth.

2013 Responsible Alcohol Merchant Exemplary Award Winners are:

7 ELEVEN 2233 14279 (OCEAN ST.)

7 ELEVEN 2233 17296 (E. LAKE)

7 ELEVEN 2233 3232 (MAIN ST.)

BEVERAGES & MORE

CAPITOLA SHELL GAS STATION

COST PLUS WORLD MARKET

CVS PHARMACY STORE 9332 (MISSION ST.)

DEKE’S MARKET

EL CHARRITO MARKET

EL PATIO GROCERY

JOHNNIE’S MARKET

LA PRINCESSA MARKET (FREEDOM BLVD.)

LA ROSA MARKET

NEW LEAF COMMUNITY MARKET & INC. (HWY 9)

NEW LEAF COMMUNITY MARKET & INC. (41ST AVE.)

NEW LEAF COMMUNITY MARKET & INC. (FAIR AVE.)

NOB HILL FOODS 617 (MAIN ST.)

PALM MARKET & DELI

RITE AID STORE 5966 (41ST AVE.)

ROTTEN ROBBIE 35 (MISSION ST.)

SAFEWAY INC. 799 (MORRISEY AVE.)

SANTA FE MERCADO

STAFF OF LIFE NATURAL FOODS (SOQUEL AVE.)

VALERO CORNER STORE 3400 (FREEDOM BLVD.)

VALERO CORNER STORE 3528 (MISSION ST.)

VALERO CORNER STORE 3737 (MAIN ST.)

VALERO CORNER STORE 3529 (CAPITOLA RD.)

2013 Responsible Alcohol Merchant Honorable Award Winners are:

7 ELEVEN 2233 14280 (PORTOLA DR.)

7 ELEVEN 2233 14282 (CARDIFF PL.)

7 ELEVEN 2233 20608 (AIRPORT BLVD.)

ALDAMA’S CARNICERIA Y MARKETA

BEACH LIQUORS

CORK N BOTTLE

CVS PHARMACY STORE 9331 (FRONT ST.)

CVS PHARMACY STORE 9960 (BAY AVE.)

DELUXE FOODS OF APTOS

D’LA COLMENA

ERNIE’S LIQUORS

FOUR CORNERS MARKET

HARVEST MOON

LEO’S LIQUORS

LIVE OAK AMERICAN

MEL’S MARKET

MEXICO PRODUCE INC

MI PUEBLO FOOD CENTER 6

MT. HERMON SHELL

NEW LEAF COMMUNITY MARKET & INC. (FELTON)

QUICK STOP 78 (SOQUEL DR.)

REDWOOD KEG

RITE AID STORE 5965 (APTOS)

RITE AID STORE 5968 (FELTON)

RITE AID STORE 5979 (SOQUEL AVE.)

SAFEWAY INC. 786 (FELTON)

SEASCAPE FOODS

U SAVE LIQUORS

VALERO CORNER STORE 3503 (OCEAN ST.)

VALERO CORNER STORE 3735 (SOQUEL AVE.)

WHOLE FOODS MARKET (SOQUEL AVE.)