70 Local Business Owners Recognized as Responsible Alcohol Merchant

Santa Cruz County Friday Night Live Partnership youth announced the winners of the 16th 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.

Underage drinking cost Californians $6.7 billion in 2013, according to the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. These costs include medical care, work loss, and pain and suffering associated with the multiple problems resulting from the use of alcohol by youth. Underage drinking leads to substantial harm due to traffic crashes, violent crime, property crime, unintentional injury, and risky sex.

Youth violence (homicide, suicide, aggravated assault) and traffic crashes attributable to alcohol use by underage youth in California represent the largest costs for the State at $4.6 billion. For this reason, Friday Night Live (FNL) youth have partnered with alcohol retailers to actively discourage and limit youth access to alcoholic beverages by conducting 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.

Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. For additional information, please contact FNL youth at: 454-5483.

Sincere congratulations and thanks to these merchants for making Santa Cruz County a safer place for our youth: • 7 Eleven 3036 Portola Dr. Live Oak • 7 Eleven-1461 Main St. Watsonville • 7 Eleven-1875 Soquel Dr. Live Oak • 7 Eleven-2429 Mission St. Santa Cruz • 7 Eleven-261 E. Lake Ave. Watsonville • 7 Eleven-274 Mt. Hermon Rd. Scotts Valley • 7 Eleven-455 Airport Watsonville • Ben Lomond Market-9440 Mill St. Ben Lomond • Boulder Creek American-13211 Hwy 9 Boulder Creek • Capitola 76 Market Capitola • Corralitos Market- 569 Corralitos Rd. Freedom • CVS Pharmacy- 1700 Mission St. Santa Cruz • CVS Pharmacy Store 3039-1966 Main St. Watsonville • CVS Pharmacy Store-257 Mt. Hermon Rd. Scotts Valley • CVS Pharmacy Store490 Rodriguez St. Watsonville • CVS Pharmacy Store-6247 Graham Hill Rd. Scotts Valley • Deke’s Market-334 7th Ave Live Oak • Felton Valero-6225 Graham Hill Rd. Felton • Freedom Shell-1830 Freedom Blvd Watsonville • Grocery Outlet-120 Morrissey Blvd. Santa Cruz • Las Lomas Market-182 Hall Rd Watsonville • Mi Pueblo Food Center 6-1437 Freedom Blvd. Watsonville • New Leaf Community Market 6240 Hwy 9 Felton • New Leaf Community Market-1101 Fair Ave Santa Cruz • New Leaf Community Market-1210 41st Ave Capitola • New Leaf Community Market-13159 Hwy 9 Boulder Creek • Nob Hill-1912 Main St. Watsonville • Palm Market and Deli- 3000 Valencia Ave. Aptos • Quik Stop Market 41-2140 Freedom Blvd. Watsonville • Quik Stop Market 101-5400 Scotts Valley Market Scotts Valley • Quik Stop Market 2303 E Lake. Ave Watsonville • Quik Stop-5505 Soquel Dr. Santa Cruz • Rite Aid-80 Rancho Del Mar Aptos • Rotten Robbie-1906 Mission St. Santa Cruz • Safeway-6225 Graham Hill Rd. Scotts Valley • Seascape Foods- 16 Seascape Village Aptos • Shopper’s Corner Santa Cruz • Soquel Shell-2700 Soquel Ave Live Oak • Target-1825 41St Ave- Capitola • Trader’s Joe 3555 Clares St. Capitola • U Save Liquor-930 Almar Ave • Valero Corner Store-1180 Main St. Watsonville • Valero Corner Store-1516 Soquel Ave Santa Cruz • Valero Corner Store-335 Mission St. Santa Cruz • Village Bottle Shop-222 Mt. Hermon Rd Scotts Valley • Walgreens-1810 Freedom Blvd Watsonville • Walgreens-201 Front St. Santa Cruz • Walgreens-210 Mt. Hermon Rd. Scotts Valley • Whole Foods Market-911 Soquel Ave Santa Cruz • Barsi’s Liquors-602 E Lake Ave Watsonville • Beach Liquors-111 Beach St. Santa Cruz • Capitola Shell-1649 41st Ave Capitola • Cork N Bottle-1990 Main St. Watsonville • Dale’s Liquors & Grocery Watsonville • East Lake Food & Liquor-954 E Lake Ave. Watsonville • El Pueblo Food #11-100 Union St. Watsonville • Felton Liquors-6169 Hwy 9 Felton • George’s Liquor Store-230 Walker St. Watsonville • Hernandez Market-3790 Portola Dr. Live Oak • La Princesa Market-1260 Main St. Watsonville • Leo’s Liquors-4790 Scotts Valley Dr. Scotts Valley • Mt. Hermon Shell-90 Mt. Hermon Rd. Scotts Valley • Redwood Key-12980 Hwy 9 Boulder Creek • Rite Aid-1988 Freedom Blvd. Watsonville • Rite Aid-6123 Hwy 9 Felton • Safeway-117 Morrissey Blvd. Santa Cruz • Scotts Valley Union 76-99 Mt. Hermon Rd. Scotts Valley • Super Max5- 906 E Lake Ave Watsonville • Town & County Liquors-1224 Main St. Watsonville • Trader’s Joe’s 700 Front St. Santa Cruz