When asked how they feel about a state-run liquor store being built behind their clean and sober clubhouse in Sugar House, Fellowship Hall regulars have mixed opinions.

On one end of the spectrum, David Vasquez, who runs Fellowship Hall’s kitchen and coordinates the 12-step meetings held there, said the store “might be a blessing in disguise.”

“We might be able to save some guys coming out of that place if they know that you got two options: There’s the liquor store, and you got the fellowship.”

But Charlie T. — an Army veteran who asked to be identified by his first name and last initial only — said having the new store could be a “death sentence” to people who are new to sobriety.

“They could put that liquor store anywhere in this city,” Charlie T. said. “But in the back pocket of a [sober] clubhouse, that doesn’t seem like any logic at all. It seems counterproductive.”

A common refrain among people at Fellowship Hall this week was frustration that the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services (DABS), the state alcohol agency, hadn’t notified them that a liquor store might be built at 815 E. 2100 South, right behind the clubhouse.

On Thursday, DABS spokesperson Michelle Schmitt said their staff had intended to visit Fellowship Hall, but hadn’t yet because “it’s very early in the process.”

But she said her team had contacted Vasquez and arranged to meet next week to discuss the planned store.

How the proposed store came to be

A new store is being proposed for Sugar House because the existing store, at 1154 S. Ashton Ave., is outdated, Schmitt said.

“The Sugar House community long ago outgrew its current store,” she said.

Every few years, the state conducts studies to pick locations for liquor stores based on population and growth, she said, and one study determined the Sugar House store should be “revamped.” In 2017, the Legislature funded the project, she said.

A few years ago, the DABS had been planning on building a new liquor store on the ground floor of a proposed apartment complex called Sugar Town, which was going to be built on the old Snelgrove’s site on 2100 South.

But that project never came to fruition, and the DABS went back to the drawing board to find a liquor store location, Schmitt said.

The DABS found the spot across the street from the Snelgrove’s site in January, she said, and the state finalized the real estate agreement in May.

A DABS official met with Salt Lake City officials to discuss “utility-related requirements” for the store on May 11, a city official said.

Right now, the DABS is in the design phase of the store project, Schmitt said. Once there is a proposed design in hand, she said they plan to present it to the Sugar House Community Council.

The next step is to “meet the neighbors,” Schmitt said, and reach out to the businesses that border the site.

With it being early in the process, she said, “This is the perfect time for members of the public to weigh in here.”

Schmitt said there’s no set closing date for the current Sugar House store.

‘Family’ at Fellowship Hall

At Fellowship Hall, people are welcome to sit down and chat at one of the tables in the cafe area, play cards or just hang out, Vasquez said.

“We’ve become a family here,” he said.

Emma Hamilton is a relative newcomer to Fellowship Hall, and has been coming since summer 2023. She said she took her first drink of alcohol in a park with some friends when she was 14, as “an escape” from her chaotic home life.

In 2018, her older brother died of an overdose, she said, which drove her deeper into alcoholism and drugs.

On Sept. 8, 2023, Hamilton said, she was involved in a motorcycle accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury. Drinking wasn’t possible in the hospital, where she had to stay for a month, so the day after the accident, she got sober. When she finally got to go home, she decided to stick with her sobriety and started going to Fellowship Hall.

When she walked through the doors, “I immediately had a feeling of, ‘This is my place,’” she said.

Hamilton said she doesn’t view the proposed liquor store “through a lens of fear.”

“For me, I am learning that I can’t live my life trying to avoid alcohol because it’s everywhere,” Hamilton said. “And my recovery is about learning how to live in a world where alcohol exists.”

“I think, ironically, having a liquor store next door to the Fellowship Hall might cause someone who’s never questioned their drinking to pause and think for the first time,” she added.