The Board of Selectmen approved a request from the Jug Shop’s owners on March 3 to relocate their liquor license to the Stop & Shop plaza on Cranberry Highway, after hearing two petitions and one witness against the move.

Store owner Dipenkumar Patel said that he wanted to move, in part, to be able to expand the size of his store and offer a greater variety of products to his customers.

The Jug Shop’s owners have not yet decided whether to keep the Jug Shop name at the new location. The new store at 2991 Cranberry Highway will likely open in August, after store renovations are complete.

The owners of the Liquor Locker gave the Board of Selectmen a letter co-signed by about 125 people protesting the move. The owners of Onset Village Market submitted a similar letter with about 25 signatures.

The manager of the Liquor Locker, Suhas Patel, said that there are already three liquor stores within about a five-minute drive of the Stop & Shop — Liquor Locker, Mayflower Liquors, and Depot Liquors — so the public didn’t need another liquor store in the area.

“I’m not in favor of this move. It causes a problem with the other places nearby,” Selectman Patrick Tropeano said, noting that Liquor Locker is not doing well financially. “The separation, where it is now, is fine. But I don’t want to put it right in the plaza because, basically, you’re cutting off those other guys.”

Selectman Alan Slavin said he did not think the board had the right to restrict where businesses could operate based on concern for other business’ profits.

Jim Munise questioned the public need for another liquor store in East Wareham.

Judith Whiteside said that business owners have the right to locate their business where they want.

“No matter where anybody wants to go, they’re going to be near somebody else,” Teitelbaum said, noting that the town had about a dozen liquor stores.

The board approved the license transfer 3-2, with Tropeano and Munise voting against it.