Liquor: dry spell near for Colfax

Timing on the conversion of hard liquor sales from public to private marketing means Colfax will undergo three weeks without a place to purchase hard liquor.

Donald Stine, operator of the contract liquor agency in Colfax, said the last day of operation for the store here will be May 8. State liquor officials have scheduled a pickup of the inventory at the Colfax store May 9.

Commercial sales of liquor will begin June 1 under Initiative 1183 approved last November by voters. Rosauer’s plans to sell liquor in Colfax.

“Yeah, I guess you’ll need to stock up,” said Brian Smith, communications director for the state liquor board.

Smith said inventory from contract vendors who have opted not to continue operation as private operators will be moved to nearby state-run liquor stores.

Smith said unsold liquor will be sold back to the suppliers who initially sold it to the state.

State liquor stores were auctioned off over the past month. Eric Busch of Richland bought the rights to the Pullman liquor store for $175,100.

Busch also purchased the rights to the Colville liquor store for $51,200.

The auction included rights to lease space of state-owned stores, apply for a liquor license and buy stock from the liquor board.

The auction sold 167 state-owned stores and brought in a total of $30.8 million. A bid for the entire state system was registered at $4.6 million, but was rejected because of the high sum of the individual store bids.

Low bid across the state was $49,600 for a store in Spokane. A Tacoma store sold for $750,100 for the highest bid.

The state Supreme Court is set to consider the legality of Intiative -1183 next month. It was challenged by a group who said the initiative unlawfully created two actions because of a clause regarding public safety funding. That appeal was rejected by a lower court judge.