DOMA Liquors Pays Fine, Reopens Doors

DOMA Liquors reopened on Friday after being closed by tax examiners for selling alcohol to a minor, according Arjun Kunwar, the store’s manager.

When a student attempted to purchase alcohol earlier this week, the employee thought that the student looked “older” and therefore did not card him, according to Amrik S. Pabla, a DOMA employee.

On Thursday morning, tax examiners notified the business that it had violated the law. DOMA was closed for all of Thursday and was allowed to reopen after paying a fine, Kunwar said.

According to Kunwar, this was the first time that DOMA had been caught selling to minors, adding that the employee in question was “new” and “in training.”

Kunwar said that the store will be more stringent in the future in allowing students to purchase alcohol.

“From now on, it’s really strict,” he said of the store’s policy regarding checking IDs.

Students interviewed said that in the past, DOMA has consistently carded people who purchase alcohol.

“I’ve always had my ID checked when I go there,” Samuel B. Novey ’11 said.

DOMA employees said that the store’s policy is always to check IDs, and the store consistently swipes identification to ensure authenticity.

“If they don’t have an ID, we don’t sell to them,” Pabla said.

A sign posted on DOMA’s door on Thursday indicated that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts had seized DOMA for “nonpayment of taxes.”

Richard A. Ascolillo Jr., the tax examiner whose card was taped to the door of DOMA, declined to comment on the case.

Another sign on the store’s door, handwritten in purple ink and taped to the door, said that the store was merely “closed for renovation.”

Kunwar said he had no knowledge of the handwritten sign and thinks one of his employees had posted it that day.

DOMA employees declined to comment on the employment status of the person that allegedly sold alcohol to a minor.

—Staff writer Xi Yu contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Hana N. Rouse can be reached at hrouse@college.harvard.edu.