The Herald reported yesterday the Grey Lynn store could not sell wine or beer for a week from Monday while the Mt Wellington branch was unable to sell alcohol for five days from yesterday.
Mr Endicott-Davies, who manages alcohol harm prevention for the Auckland City police district, said that from the beginning of last year to now, 72 licensed premises had failed controlled purchase operations.
And in the 11 months to December 2014, 51 off-licences, including 14 supermarkets or superettes, in the Auckland City police district were caught selling alcohol to minors aged 16 or 17 - making the area the worst in the country for breaching licensing rules.
The national average for controlled purchase operation failures was 8.5 per cent over that period, while the total failure rate for outlets tested in Auckland City was 23.8 per cent.
In this year's most recent operation on April 8, alcohol was sold to minors three times, including twice to a 15-year-old.
"Alcohol is one of the identified drivers of crime and it is recognised that youth alcohol-related harm is a school and wider community problem," Mr Endicott-Davies said.
Testing of premises to ensure compliance with the act helped reduce alcohol-related harm of young people, he said, as did community support, education and other prevention initiatives.
Off-licences are not the only places to be targeted by controlled purchase operations.
In February, popular Ponsonby bar Little Easy's licence was revoked for a week after selling alcohol to a minor in October last year, and Karangahape Rd's Verona had its licence suspended for 48 hours.
Last month, Ponsonby Rd restaurant Orphan's Kitchen stopped selling alcohol for a month after staff forgot to renew the popular eatery's licence.
Its licence was renewed last Friday.
An Auckland Council spokeswoman said it was uncommon for premises to forget to renew their licences.
