Tagged: liquor privatization

"It's a buying frenzy. That's why I came - I wanted to see it on the first day. How could I miss it?" - Kyle Johnson outside a Costco in Seattle

The state of Washington has officially bid good riddance to its state-run liquor stores. About five times as many stores will now sell hard liquor, and the new law that went into effect today means shoppers can head to supermarkets to buy vodka or rum. It’s a welcome change for some people, like Alyssa Royse.

A huge shift takes place tomorrow when we’ll be able to walk into a Fred Meyer or Safeway and walk out with a bottle of gin. But if you walk out without paying, beware. You may trigger an alarm. 

It's just like when you buy a pair of jeans and the clerk snaps off a security tag so you don’t beep when you exit the store. Now when you go buy a bottle of booze, you may see something similar. The device is like a thick plastic sheath that covers the top of the bottle, and it’s designed to make thieves think twice.

OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Washington Supreme Court has upheld a voter-approved initiative privatizing liquor sales, one day before the initiative takes effect.

Washington retailers are getting ready for the 78-year-old state monopoly on liquor sales to end this Friday. It’s not yet clear what privatization will do to the price of alcohol in Washington. One entity with a big stake in the matter … is the state of Idaho.

Some of Idaho’s most profitable state-run liquor stores just happen to be along its northwestern border.

LACEY, Wash. – An online auction to privatize Washington state liquor stores netted nearly $31 million . It's all gravy for the state budget.

State Liquor Control Board business director Pat McLaughlin said today that nothing was penciled in for anticipated auction proceeds. But McLaughlin says he expected the bidding to be fierce. And it was.

YAKIMA, Wash. — Washington officials are announcing the results Monday of Friday's online auction of state-run liquor stores.

The sale of the rights to 167 stores is estimated at more than $20 million.

The auction was the result of a state vote to get the state out of the retail liquor business and to privatize sales.

OLYMPIA, Wash. - State officials in Olympia are verifying bids this weekend from a very successful online auction of liquor stores. Private entrepreneurs collectively shelled out well in excess of $13 million for the rights to take over specific state-run liquor stores.

A voter-approved ballot measure is forcing Washington state to privatize the liquor business. Going, going, gone are licenses to operate 167 state-run liquor outlets.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington liquor stores are on their way to privatization. But don’t expect a clearance sale on the booze that’s left over when the stores close in May.

Representatives from the state Liquor Control Board gave an update Tuesday to the state lawmakers in Olympia on the privatization approved by voters.

Now that voters have kicked the state out of the liquor store business, some people are looking forward to changes in how they buy booze. Others, though, say the decision is not cause for celebration. 

OLYMPIA, Wash. — State officials say two proposed bids that would privatize Washington's liquor distribution system are not financially beneficial.

Statewide initiatives on the Washington ballot have many people here still studying up and wondering how to vote. Registered voters have about a week left to make up their minds. Two of the most talked about issues are whether to get rid of state-run liquor stores and on how highway tolls can be spent. A survey of voters, done by researchers at the University of Washington, offers some insight into what voters might decide after all the votes are tallied.

The statewide Washington Poll, put together by UW political science Professor Matt Barreto, says the liquor privatization measure, I-1183, will likely pass because it has the hit the crucial tipping point of 50 percent. Barreto's poll says only 43 percent of those surveyed opposed the measure.