Total Wine in Burnsville opened Wednesday evening (Sept. 10) to a robust crowd. Burnsville Mayor Elizabeth Kautz, city council members and Total Wine co-founder and president David Trone welcomed customers and dignitaries as they cut the red ribbon to officially open Minnesota's second Total Wine superstore. A Roseville location opened in March. The new location is the chain's 106th store.

The Maryland-based wine, beer and liquor retailer plans to open its next store in Nov. in Woodbury. The long-delayed decision for the Bloomington location at 494 and France Av. endured another test on Wednesday with a day-long public hearing. "Everyone had their due process," said Sandra Johnson, Bloomington's city attorney. Trone said little about the meeting except that, by request, he changed the ownership of Total Wine to include only him and his brother Robert, eliminating any inclusion of their children as owners in trust.

Bloomington city attorney Sandra Johnson explained that the reason for the ownership change was due to Bloomington city code being stricter than state law. "Minors are not qualified to be owners," she said.

Now Johnson and Total Wine will provide a summary document to the state administrative law judge, who will make a recommendation on granting Total Wine's license. The issue may finally be decided at the city council meeting on Oct. 20.

Burnsville city council person Suzanne Nguyen said that city attorney Joel Jamnik never saw any reason to deny a liquor license to Total Wine. The process in Burnsville, Roseville and Woodbury has gone much more smoothly than in Bloomington.

Total Wine originally talked of having five to eight stores in the Twin Cities. After Roseville, Burnsville, Woodbury and Bloomington, it appears that Maple Grove may be the fifth. After saying that he was interested in northwest metro, Trone confirmed to me that he had indeed visited Maple Grove on Wednesday.

The Total Wine store in Burnsville is slightly larger than the Roseville location. It is filled with more than 8,000 types of wine, 3,000 spirits and 2.500 beers. During the grand opening, festivities include live music and tastings through Saturday, Sept. 13. The store is located in Burnhaven Shopping Center at 820 W. County Rd 42, near Target.