Washington state liquor stores on auction block

Post Reply
Super S
Posts: 2690
Joined: April 1st, 2009, 9:27 pm
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 61 times
Status: Offline

Washington state liquor stores on auction block

Post by Super S »

I hope this is the correct place to post this, as it mainly pertains to Washington. Fred Meyer has been preparing for this by rearranging areas of the store, however I have not been to any other large stores recently so I am not sure who else has been making changes already.

The state-owned liquor stores are now on the auction block:

http://tdn.com/news/local/state-run-liq ... 963f4.html

This could be a very interesting transition.
User avatar
submariner
Founder of RetailWatchers.com
Founder of RetailWatchers.com
Posts: 571
Joined: February 22nd, 2009, 10:35 am
Location: Canberra, ACT, Australia
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 24 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Washington state liquor stores on auction block

Post by submariner »

I'm going to move this to specialty retail since it's more about the state liquor stores and not grocery, per se...
Brian Lutz
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1425
Joined: March 1st, 2009, 5:51 pm
Location: Piedmont Triad, NC
Been thanked: 56 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Washington state liquor stores on auction block

Post by Brian Lutz »

I know of at least one effort underway to get the ballot initiative to privatize liquor sales overturned in the courts on a technicality (which is a slightly nicer way of saying "it'll be overturned if the government doesn't like it",) so they may not be getting rid of those just yet...
scotty13
New Member
New Member
Posts: 2
Joined: March 17th, 2012, 7:42 pm
Status: Offline

Re: Washington state liquor stores on auction block

Post by scotty13 »

This post is informational for those who may be interested in bidding on individual liqour stores or a system wide bid for all liquor stores currently owned and opearted by the state of Washington.

There is a provision in I-1183 (the intiative passed by the voters in Washington forcing the privatization of Liqor sales) that the owners of these businesses or any holder of a Spirits Retail License must pay to the state of Washington, 17% of all revenues derived from the sale of distilled spirits.

This is in addition to the 20.5% sales tax on liquor and your other licenses and state B and O taxes. Please figure this in when considering your bid on one or all of these stores.
Brian Lutz
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1425
Joined: March 1st, 2009, 5:51 pm
Location: Piedmont Triad, NC
Been thanked: 56 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Washington state liquor stores on auction block

Post by Brian Lutz »

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/b ... uor22.html

It sounds like QFC also negotiated a clause into at least some of their store leases prohibiting privately-owned liquor stores in the same shopping centers where their stores were located, which has left some bidders unable to obtain leases for the former state stores.
Post Reply