Washington Nets Nearly $31 million for Liquor Stores

More than 14,000 bids have been submitted for the state's 167 liquor stores, which will become privatized beginning June 1.

April 26, 2012

YAKIMA, WA - The Washington state Liquor Control Board announced earlier this week that winning bids for the state€™s 167 liquor stores totaled roughly $30.8 million, in an auction prompted by an initiative that privatized the state€™s liquor business, Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

Kulbir Singh was the winning bidder for nine liquor stores, a move that he said was precipitated by the stores€™ busy customer traffic.

"The volume is awesome high," Singh said. "They are very clean stores too, very nice, but we are going to have some competition."

In addition to sales of the state stores, more than 1,000 businesses, including Target and beverage retailer BevMo!, applied to begin selling liquor in the stores since Costco-backed Initiative 1183 passed last fall.

The measure allows for stores larger than 10,000 square feet to sell liquor. It also allows smaller stores to sell liquor if there are no other large retail outlets nearby.

Washington€™s state-run stores were included in the public auction. Excluded were the state€™s 163 contract liquor stores, which are already run by private individuals.

The winning bidders earned the right to operate a liquor store at the location of the state-run store. As the state does not own the properties, winning bidders must negotiate a lease, acquire a liquor license and stock their stores. Implementation takes effect June 1. In total, 14,627 bids were received.

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