Local Video
|
| Third local liquor store planned |
By: DAVID HENKE, Staff Writer
|
Posted: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 8:27 pm
|
 Email  Print
|
When Apple Valley built a new liquor store within two miles of her own municipal liquor store, Lakeville Liquor Operations Director Brenda Visnovec focused on her store’s strength — customer loyalty — to survive amid stiffer competition.
The Northfield Municipal Liquor Store and Firehouse Liquor may soon face a similar situation. On Dec. 14, the Dundas City Council approved an off-sale liquor license for MML Company, owned by Margaret Louis. By next spring Louis hopes to open a new, 6,300-square-foot MGM Liquor Warehouse franchise next to Menards along Schilling Drive in Dundas.
Dundas City Administrator John McCarthy called the potential liquor store an economic development opportunity for Dundas.
But another local competitor could damage Northfield’s own, often-delayed plans for an expanded municipal liquor store.
Early this year, the Northfield City Council chose not to construct a new liquor store facility after deciding the new store wouldn’t generate the quick profits needed to justify construction expenses.
Right now, the liquor store returns roughly $125,000 to the city each year. To make a new liquor store financially feasible for Northfield, the new facility would have to generate a higher yearly revenue — an amount that would depend on the cost of construction for the new store, Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski said.
The presence of an MGM Liquor Warehouse could chip away at the profitability of the Northfield store — which could make it less likely that the city council would approve the construction of a new facility.
Northfield Director of Liquor Operations Stephen DeLong declined to comment on this story, but Walinski believes a third liquor store wouldn’t necessarily compromise plans to build a new Northfield liquor store.
Instead, Walinski said, the city’s liquor store has carved out a specialized niche and built a sturdy enough customer base to maintain its viability.
Even so, Lakeville’s Visnovec said Northfield may have to fight to hold onto its current market share if an MGM franchise opens in Dundas.
When the Apple Valley store opened near one of her three Lakeville Municipal Liquor Store locations, Visnovec said that store took a 5 to 6 percent hit in sales.
Were Louis’ MGM Liquor franchise to open in Dundas, Northfield’s liquor store could see a similar — or worse — sales slump, Visnovec said, especially since Northfield’s store has limited space for its inventory and isn’t easily accessible or highly visible from Hwy. 3.
That slump could compromise Northfield’s efforts to build a new facility, unless Northfield gets proactive, Visnovec said.
To maintain her store’s profitability, Visnovec launched an aggressive marketing campaign and worked to build her wine club membership base — strategies that could work for Northfield, Visnovec believes.
But the best way to maintain the Northfield store’s financial health, Visnovec said, is to move the store to a more visible, well-traveled location.
“It’s tough to draw people downtown these days,” Visnovec said. “I think Northfield could’ve blocked this by moving sooner and getting out to a primary arterial [road].”
Any plans to build a new liquor store, Walinski said, would depend on the city’s preliminary market analysis.
If the MGM Liquor Warehouse opens in Dundas, Firehouse Liquor owner Sean Adams believes his store would experience a prolonged, albeit small, decrease in sales.
“I don’t foresee it being a huge change,” Adams said. “There’s always going to be people checking out the new guy in town; it happens in every market.”
If nothing else, Adams said, the added competition could re-energize both Firehouse and Northfield Liquor.
“Normally in business, you don’t want somebody new coming into your neighborhood,” Adams said. “But at the same time, it can revitalize you.”
THE PROPOSED STORE
The Dundas City Council last week approved an off-sale liquor license for Margaret Louis, the president of MML Company.
Louis, who owns an MGM Liquor Warehouse franchise in Red Wing, said she would like to open a second store in Dundas as early as next spring. At this point, the planning for the store is still in the preliminary stages, Louis said.
According to Dundas City Administrator John McCarthy, the store would fill the 6,300-square-foot space currently occupied by Jumping Around, a youth recreation center on Schilling Drive near Sears and Menards.
If MGM chooses to remodel the interior of the space, McCarthy said, the business would have to apply for a building permit.
— David Henke covers city, business and youth issues. He can be reached at dhenke@northfieldnews.com or 645-1100.
|
|
|
|
Story Comment Guidelines:
Registered members who identify themselves by name are authorized to automatically post comments to stories. Readers who wish to remain anonymous submit comments to a pending queue, where they will be reviewed for approval within 24 hours of their submission. To determine the author of a comment, click on the user name.
Those who identify themselves will be given broader boundaries to express their opinion. Only those anonymous comments that contribute to the conversation in a thoughtful, respectful, civil manner will be approved. The decision to approve or reject a comment is a subjective one and is ours alone. Authors of rejected comments will receive an email response.
If you would like to report abuse click here to notify us.
|
|
| Show Comments | Hide Comments
|
|
| Login and voice your opinion!
|
|
|
|
|
Top Jobs | Top Homes | Top Cars
09 Jetta
09 white Jetta asking $16,000
less than 48,000 miles
|
|
Digg
Del.icio.us
Facebook
MySpace
StumbleUpon
Google
Yahoo!
