The ability to sell liquor near 23rd and Union sold at auction for $295,100 late last week. Beaverton, Oregon’s Michale Beraki purchased the rights for what could be the only CD liquor store south of Madison and north of Jackson.
Beraki still needs to negotiate a lease with building owner Tom Bangasser, who told CDNews he is interested in keeping a liquor store in the building. Beraki also won the rights to Store 74 in Lynnwood.
Washington State Liquor Store 182 has been hawking booze since 1993. The store sold $3,541,604 worth of booze in 2011. But as the state prepares to get out of the booze-selling business, it is selling one-time exceptions to a rule included in I-1183 that puts liquor sales almost entirely in the hands of large retailers. The Costco-funded and citizen-approved initiative requires that businesses applying to sell liquor be a minimum of 10,000 square feet. Store 182 is 4,347 square feet.
Grocery Outlet at MLK and Union is large enough to apply for a liquor license, but a manager told CDNews they are not pursuing a license at this time.
By winning the auction, Beraki can either open a store at the current location, open a store in a nearby location or sell the rights to open a liquor store to another party.
$295K sounds like a decent auction, but Seattle Times gave local bragging rights to Capitol Hill ($500K for the store at 14th and Pine) http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018051909_l
Thanks for the story Tom.
I thought that was interesting, considering that I’m pretty sure the 12/Pine store did not have sales numbers as high as the 23rd and Union store (I forget the exact numbers, though).
I’m glad Grocery Outlet won’t be selling booze. I’d fear for the safety of their employees– they have enough run-ins with sketchy customers there as it is. Not to mention a pretty bad problem with shoplifters, according to one of the employees I spoke to, who said she’s been personally threatened by one not-quite-right customers. I’m happy G.O. is generally as safe as it is, but I think selling liquor would change that. Glad they’re not planning to do it.
I hear the PO has a move out date within the next 12 months. That would slow foot traffic to the potential liquor store quite a bit and might even make the buyer of the license think of setting up somewhere else. Is tom ready to find another tenant or is he Finally (!!!) ready to upgrade that whole miserable corner?
Where did you hear about the post office closure? That would be big news.
I don’t think the Gross Out could carry booze because booze doesn’t expire. They do have $2 six packs of Four Loco though, yum.
I don’t think it is true.
Duh! I was wrong on this one.