Liquor stores

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Any posters have experience running/managing/owning a liquor store?

Believe it or not, my current town is just now about to be able to sell liquor. Governor still has to sign the bill and a few other formalities but it looks like it will all happen in the next 3 to 4 months.

Is there legitimate money to be made opening a liquor store. Town is approximately 18,000 in population and the county as a whole is probably 35,000. Another rule is that liquor stores cannot sell beer so revenue would be strictly from wine and liquor.

Knowing the town, my guess is the majority of sales would be more along the lines of Evan Williams and Jim beam as opposed to makers mark or the equivalent (and smirnoff as opposed to grey goose) and below $20 wines.

I think it might make sense to become a distributor as well and buy in bulk to sell to the local restaurants and bars as a more stable source of revenue but I will obviously have to look further into that.

Hiring trustworthy/dependable people seems like it might be a difficult endeavor. Especially considering I would want to continue with my current profession also.

Was just hoping for some insight and stories from any current posters in this line of work.
 

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You must live in one of those old dry towns, eh? I remember staying in a dry town in Texas. Had to drive out of town to get booze. Was peculiar.

Wish I could give you advice on running a liquor store. Most liquor stores are run by quasi-governmental corporations in Canada.

That being said, I'm not sure they're a slam dunk in terms of making money. I get the feeling the margins are slim because of all the taxes on the booze. Could also be a bit dangerous. Liquor stores are an obvious target for desperate addicts.
 

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Still quite a few dry towns... I think there were ay least two bordering Boston-proper when I grew up.

Can you sell tobacco? Maybe throw a few tanning beds in the back as well?
 
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Have you looked into how they are going to be dispersing the liquor licenses? I would imagine, going from a dry town to one that just now is allowing sales, that they will be pretty strict.

From what I know, the margins are not bad on the smaller bottles. The worse the community that you are in, the more you will be able to charge for the small pints and what not.
 

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Still quite a few dry towns... I think there were ay least two bordering Boston-proper when I grew up.

Can you sell tobacco? Maybe throw a few tanning beds in the back as well?

Good question Celtic. Yes, the stores can sell tobacco. That would obviously be a good source of revenue also. Don't believe I can sell any "groceries" though. Like not even gum if I understand correctly. But cokes, sprite, etc. seem to be ok.


Boatboatboat - hate to say it but I've only touched a gun (not counting bb guns) about twice in my life. And each time was for about 30 seconds. Once was shooting skeet with a shotgun over a lake. Hit first one and then missed like 6 in a row and quit. Other time was a rifle and I couldn't even find the targets in the scope.

It's a pretty non-violent town. Just guessing but I'd say we only average about 1 murder every 2 or 3 years. Although even in a fairly safe town, I guess getting robbed at least once over a 10 year period is highly likely. I don't plan on running the register very often.
 

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It may be hard to run a small Mom and Pop type liquor store in your town depending on who gets the liquor licenses. Around here, they have started allowing the Walmarts and Targets of the world to get into the booze business- this is not to mention most of the major grocery stores/chains as well. Competition from these places squeezes the profit margins way down. I know a guy who owns a liquor store in a small town, but he also works full time. The only way that he is able to grind it out there is likely due to the fact that he has four gas pumps out in front, and he does a lot of foot traffic due to his proximity to some low income apartments. He does have a lot of business from 'townies', but his store has been around forever. It'd be tough to get a loyal clientele starting from scratch when the Mega Save store down the street can kill you on price.
 

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Have you looked into how they are going to be dispersing the liquor licenses? I would imagine, going from a dry town to one that just now is allowing sales, that they will be pretty strict.

From what I know, the margins are not bad on the smaller bottles. The worse the community that you are in, the more you will be able to charge for the small pints and what not.

Good question. I have looked up the normal procedure for applying for a liquor license. But it is possible that each city can come up with "stricter" rules than other municipalities.

One of my biggest worries is that about 30 people have this idea too (very likely). I figure the city can support a handful of liquor stores tops so it might not work out if a dozen open.
 

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liquor sales vary from state to state.

some states it's easy to get a license and you can buy the booze from any wholesaler you want.

other states it's run like a communist state and prices you can sell and buy are set in stone, you are basically just an agent for the state and you get to wet your beak. there is nothing to manage just employees. the state tells you what hours you can be open, what you can sell, and for how much. the state also keeps out your competition by limiting the number of outlets.
 

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It may be hard to run a small Mom and Pop type liquor store in your town depending on who gets the liquor licenses. Around here, they have started allowing the Walmarts and Targets of the world to get into the booze business- this is not to mention most of the major grocery stores/chains as well. Competition from these places squeezes the profit margins way down. I know a guy who owns a liquor store in a small town, but he also works full time. The only way that he is able to grind it out there is likely due to the fact that he has four gas pumps out in front, and he does a lot of foot traffic due to his proximity to some low income apartments. He does have a lot of business from 'townies', but his store has been around forever. It'd be tough to get a loyal clientele starting from scratch when the Mega Save store down the street can kill you on price.

The laws in this area do not allow grocery stores/wal-mart to sell liquor or wine. They can sell beer but that's it. Of course, that law could be changed any day, but as of now, the big grocery chains and wal-mart cannot sell anything more than beer.
 

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Still quite a few dry towns... I think there were ay least two bordering Boston-proper when I grew up.

Can you sell tobacco? Maybe throw a few tanning beds in the back as well?[/QUOTE]


careful with this...requires an electrical upgrade with sealed drawings...add 12k to the startup costs
 

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GL with that SEC... competition is always a major factor in any business.. You said a dozen, I would venture that the number to be successful must be much lower than that.. I live in a city with 100k and we have I think 6 liqour stores, although I think we could have a couple more (state run though)
 

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The laws in this area do not allow grocery stores/wal-mart to sell liquor or wine. They can sell beer but that's it. Of course, that law could be changed any day, but as of now, the big grocery chains and wal-mart cannot sell anything more than beer.

Interesting. Just a guess, but I'd say that most of the money/repeat customers in the liquor business at least around here are in beer sales (getting a case for a game, the guy picking up an 18 pack for the weekend, etc.). I'll ask my friend, but I'm pretty sure that most of his sales volume is in beer. I'd think that limiting yourself to hard booze and wine may be tough around here, but since the big box places can't sell it where you are, you'd have an advantage, plus drinking habits may be different. It just seems that outside of the hardcore alcoholic who buys a pint of cheap stuff a day, you may be pressed to get a lot of repeat customers. There are places around here who seem to have done OK marketing themselves in the wine and cheese type niche (but this is Wisconsin).
 

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Interesting. Just a guess, but I'd say that most of the money/repeat customers in the liquor business at least around here are in beer sales (getting a case for a game, the guy picking up an 18 pack for the weekend, etc.). I'll ask my friend, but I'm pretty sure that most of his sales volume is in beer. I'd think that limiting yourself to hard booze and wine may be tough around here, but since the big box places can't sell it where you are, you'd have an advantage, plus drinking habits may be different. It just seems that outside of the hardcore alcoholic who buys a pint of cheap stuff a day, you may be pressed to get a lot of repeat customers. There are places around here who seem to have done OK marketing themselves in the wine and cheese type niche (but this is Wisconsin).

I live in a state much like the one SEC described. except liqour stores can ONLY sell liqour and grocery stores sell beer and wine.... and I can tell you our liqour stores do well lol.
 

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I live in a state much like the one SEC described. except liqour stores can ONLY sell liqour and grocery stores sell beer and wine.... and I can tell you our liqour stores do well lol.

Right. Wisconsin is a beer state, big time. We have a lot of 'beer alcoholics' which I'd guess is fairly unique. I'd assume that the harder stuff is more popular in the South.
 

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GL with that SEC... competition is always a major factor in any business.. You said a dozen, I would venture that the number to be successful must be much lower than that.. I live in a city with 100k and we have I think 6 liqour stores, although I think we could have a couple more (state run though)

Actually, I said the city could probably support 5 stores tops and would NOT work if a dozen ended up working. I often find myself also skipping over the word "not" when reading fast, especially on a computer.
 

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Actually, I said the city could probably support 5 stores tops and would NOT work if a dozen ended up working. I often find myself also skipping over the word "not" when reading fast, especially on a computer.

Gotcha. Yeah, you know your area the best. I would have to think, a place that small 2 could be profitable... 6 with 100k in my city makes it 1 store per every 17k. again there could be huge differences in demographics and comsuption habits...

I am sure youre aware that state laws differ so much that it is hard to compare... I know you brought up distrubuting.. Here restrurants are required to go to a specific store to purchase their liqour. If you can find an opening there, I think that would be a great edge on your future competitors.

Keep doing all the research you can. Legitimate business plan and everything. If you see that you can make a profit, go for it! get the best location (not necessaryly the nicest) but the best location you can! I hope it works out for you. GL
 

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lick her stores get robbed pretty often. You good with a pistol?

for the best of my knowledge, since I've been here I've never heard of our liqour stores getting robbed. Convinence stores do often, but not liqour stores. maybe better security? Idk.
 

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for the best of my knowledge, since I've been here I've never heard of our liqour stores getting robbed. Convinence stores do often, but not liqour stores. maybe better security? Idk.

In my hometown they do a lot and so do smoke shops and lottery stores! There is always some disgusting slob working behind the counter at places like that so I guess robbers don't think they are going to put a much of a fight or give chase! EASY PICKINS! Plus you can get all the things you need in one stop!
 

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