SOUTH DEERFIELD — After a reported alcohol sale violation, the owner of The Spirit Shoppe plans to reduce hours at all of the store’s locations in an effort to prevent any further violations.

On May 1, the Deerfield Police Department conducted a semi-annual compliance check at the 53 South Main St. store. The 18-year-old Frontier Regional School student who was working with the police entered The Spirit Shoppe and bought a six-pack of beer without being asked for identification, according to Police Chief John Paciorek Jr. and Sgt. Brian Ravish, who also serves as Frontier’s school resource officer and conducted the compliance check.

As a result of the violation, Paciorek said Steve Schechterle, owner of The Spirit Shoppe, has worked out an action plan to prevent any further violations at any of his stores around the region. The Spirit Shoppe has four locations in Franklin County: South Deerfield, Sunderland, Gill and Greenfield.

“This is not the norm of the Deerfield Spirit Shoppe,” Paciorek said at Wednesday evening’s license violation hearing with the Deerfield Selectboard. “I was very satisfied with the corrective action plan they came up with.”

Schechterle said his plan is to reduce hours at his locations and hire full-time employees only, which he said will minimize the chance of this happening again. He added that part-time workers often aren’t worried about losing their job, but someone who is full-time, which comes with benefits and vacation time, is more likely to follow the law because they have more to lose if they are fired.

The part-time employee who sold the minor beer was fired, according to Schechterle.

“It’s going to be an inconvenience because our operating hours are shortened for our customer base, but we feel the hours we cut off, which are the late hours, we’re OK with forgoing that business in exchange for decreasing exposure to bad things,” he said. “I fully accept what the board comes up with as punishment.”

Due to Schechterle’s extensive response to the violation, the Selectboard opted to impose a suspended punishment on The Spirit Shoppe, which will trigger a two-day business closure if there is another violation within one year.

“Compliance is the thing we want. We don’t necessarily want to punish a business,” said Selectboard member Tim Hilchey. “I want to thank you for coming and giving forthright testimony, acknowledging the mistake and having a plan in place to address that going forward.”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.