Come June, spirits are going on the move, to about 30 stores in Renton.
You’ll find them at Uwajimaya, Rite Aid, Safeway, Walgreens and even Target.
They are among about two dozen retail outlets, from chains such as QFC to smaller grocers such as Saar’s Market Place in the Highlands, that have applied for a liquor license to take advantage of Initiative 1183 that privatized liquor sales in Washington.
The state officially is out of the retail liquor business in June. Until then, the Washington state Liquor Control Board is busy processing those liquor licenses and auctioning off 167 state-owned liquor stores.
Right now, Renton has four liquor stores – three owned by the state and a contract store owned by Tara Thomas in the Highlands.
Time is quickly running out to buy the exclusive right to apply for a retail liquor license at the state stores – the auction ends at 4 p.m. on Friday, unless the bidding continues up to the last minute.
If there’s a flurry of bidding at the end, it will continue at five-minute increments until there is a five-minute period with no activity, said Brian Smith, a liquor board spokesman.
“I believe the auction is going well,” Smith said. The state modified or simplified the auction process, based on input from bidders and potential bidders, he said.
Bidders had the chance to visit a state store before bidding.
Not surprisingly, the liquor store at Renton Center is drawing some big bids; it’s one of the highest-volume stores in the state.
As of Wednesday, 53 bids had been placed to buy the exclusive right, with a high bid of $51,100. That price puts it in the Top 10, but well below the $215,100 bid for the rights at the state store on Greenwood Avenue in north Seattle.
Renton’s two other state stores are well down the list. The bid as of Wednesday for the store at 3176 N.E. Sunset Blvd was $25,100; the bid on the store at 14410 S.E. Petrovitsky Road in Fairwood was $7,100.
There was a bidding war on the Highlands store this week. On Monday the bid was $10,100 but mid-afternoon Wednesday, the bid was $25,100.
The exclusive rights to all 167 state liquor stores are available as a group; the high bid midweek was $555,400. The total of the individual bids was nearly $2 million.
“We expect both to escalate as Friday approaches,” said Smith.
That figure for the rights to all stores is important because if it’s greater than the total of all the individual bids, then the state will decline those bids and award the exclusive rights to the bidder for all stores.
It’s likely the liquor board will release the results of the auction on Monday.
Liquor licenses for the former state stores will be available within 40 days, according to Smith. Local officials won’t have the typical 20-day period to comment on a license for stores that remain at the current location, he said.
Then there’s Tara Thomas, who has operated 4th Street Wine and Spirits, one of 142 contract stores in the state, for about nine months.
Thomas is feeling confident. She says she has something on her side: Convenience. Monday afternoon, there was a steady stream of customers.
“I’ve done everything I can to get this business going,” she said, including leaving a higher-paying job in the airline industry. She has two employees besides herself.
She’s already talking with the other small retail stores about buying liquor together to get a better deal and to help increase the store’s product variety.
“Variety would be our niche,” she said. “We cater to our customers’ needs.”
Costco was the driving force behind Initiative 1183, but she doesn’t think that people who shop for liquor once a week will go to a warehouse store.
Thomas can now solicit business from restaurants, a customer base once only available to state stores and a big source of their sales.
For decades the state has had a monopoly on liquor sales. Now, the stage is set in Renton for some fierce competition between the four existing stores and new licensees.
Each of the legacy stores has a potential competitor just doors away or in the case of the Fairwood store, just a couple blocks away.
Here’s the lineup:
• The downtown Renton store vs. Fred Meyer at Renton Center on Rainier Avenue
• The Highlands store vs. Saar’s Market Place on Sunset Boulevard
• Thomas’ contract store vs. QFC on Northeast Fourth Street
• The Fairwood store vs. Albertsons on Petrovitsky Road
But Thomas isn’t worried.
“I think we are going to be just fine,” she said. “Most of my customers think we are going to be just fine.”
Her advantage is that her business is up and running. The big change come June is that she won’t buy her liquor from the state. All retail stores will deal with private liquor distributors.
“I will be ready for business on Day 1,” she said.
