Over 550 gas stations received licenses to sell beer and wine so far this year. That compares with 950 in 2016.
A set of laws passed last year made it easier for gas stations to apply for beer and wine licenses.
Andy Deloney is with the Michigan Liquor Control Commission.
“In order to be eligible for a beer and wine licenses before, a gas station operator had to have a minimum inventory of 250,000 dollars of things other than alcohol and gasoline which was a very, very high hurdle for many gas station operator to clear.”
Over 1,000 beer and wine gas stations have applied for a license this year.
“The numbers show there has been a tremendous interest on the part of a lot of fuel station operators for beer and wine licenses, certainly the numbers bear that out, the number of applications we’ve received, the number of questions we’ve received.”
Deloney said it’s still up to Michigan counties to decide how many licenses can be issued in a given area.