Liquor Store to Expand Upward in Deep River, Connecticut

DEEP RIVER - Shore Discount Liquors will have to change their expansion plans at the former Swan Funeral Home as the site has revealed the presence of a peat bog.

The liquor store received permission from the Planning and Zoning Commission in September to expand its new home at 211 Main St.

The expansion will allow Shore Discount Liquors to move out of its cramped 4,100-square-foot space in the Deep River Shopping Center and move into a 7,132-square-foot building just down the street.

The original site plan had proposed a basement be built underneath a proposed 3,720-square-foot expansion that would wraps around the building's south and east sides.

Kenneth Alsback, a partner in the liquor store, notified the commission that the basement could not be constructed.

Planning and Zoning Commission Chairman Jonathan Kastner said that part of the back of the building was originally built on a peat bog, making it cost prohibitive to build a dry basement.

"In order to create a basement that would be dry, it would be more expensive than building a second floor," Kastner said, adding that the basement was to be used for storage.

The present 3,412-square-foot building has no basement.

Planning and Zoning Commission members unanimously approved an amendment to the special permit at its Mar. 20 meeting to allow the second floor.

The second floor will be used solely for storage and will be below the 35-foot maximum height allowed by zoning regulations, Kastner said.

Most of the main level of the building will be dedicated to retail space.

When asked about how the second floor would affect the streetscape, Kastner said that the second floor windows facing Main Street will mimic those of the main level.

Large trees between the package store and its neighbor, Riverwind Inn Bed and Breakfast, are expected to remain.

Kastner also said that Shore Discount Liquors plans to replicate the brick sidewalk and colonial lighting on their side of the street to mimic sidewalks and lighting that will be installed on other parts of Main Street in the near future.

The newly, expanded Shore Discount Liquors is expected to open in July and will allow the store to display merchandise better and increase its selection.
Their sister store in Clinton is located in the Ocean State Job Lot Shopping Center at 94 West Main St.

When the Deep River Shopping Center store closes, it will be the shopping center's second vacancy in the past two years after Trudee's Treasures closed in 2007.