Monday, January 16. 2012
Liquor Licence – The approval of liquor licences for convenience stores has been a much debated topic by liquor boards in South Africa. The reason being that it was generally thought not to be a good idea to offer liquor to drivers on premises close to main roads. There are many flaws in this reasoning, but it was accepted by most liquor consultants and attorneys. However, the situation has changed a lot and LiquorWise - national liquor consultants - suggests that the current approach should be revisited.
A little over a decade ago, most fuel stations in South Africa were mostly doing just that – pumping fuel. Since then, there has been a proliferation of fuel stations as well as the services being offered on fuel station premises. This was mostly the result of retail companies, especially franchised ones, seeing the potential buying power of the public at fuel stations. They realised that it would seem much better to the public to enjoy something to eat, drink or even sit down in a restaurant, than to have to wait in your car while filling up. No one would mind having an excuse to rest those weary legs from driving – even if one had not been on the road that long!
The most obvious example is the Engen One Stop deal with Wimpy. It didn’t hurt that Wimpy was basically re-launched at the time and was becoming very popular due to their new coffee recipe. Many others, such as Steers and Woolworths have followed suit. Initially the focus was on the fuel stations on national roads, which carry most long distance traffic. Other fuel stations on provincial and local roads have been quick to catch up and one now finds very well stocked convenience stores at most neighbourhood fuel stations.
What has really changed the picture is the fact that a large number of fuel stations have become full blown supermarkets and/or neighbourhood shopping centres. An increasing number are offering other services and products that just fuel, food and drink. Ticket booking services, sit down restaurants, gaming areas and play areas for children have become very popular, to name but a few.
One such fuel station owner says “ There is basically no difference between my fuel station when compared to other small/medium size supermarkets. Why should they or other liquor stores be able to get a liquor licence just because they aren’t selling fuel, although they are also situated in the vicinity of public roads? The entrance to some supermarkets may even be closer to public roads than my fuel pumps!”.
The same question is also being debated abroad. A Mobil fuel station has just been granted a liquor license that would allow beer, wine and packaged liquor – such as vodka or whiskey – by the Plymouth Township Board. They do limit the licence to prohibit any drinking of alcohol on the premises and require that the liquor store be situated more that 20m from the fuel pumps. The approval of this liquor licence application confirms the trend which started when a Shell fuel station was granted a liquor licence recently after much opposition.
The public seems to be divided on the issue, with most focusing on the perception that it will cause more road accidents. No one, however, is able to produce any comparable statistics which would make it easier for liquor boards to base their decisions on fact rather than perception.
Only time will tell whether liquor boards will be willing, or be forced to, approve liquor licences for convenience stores in fuel stations.
Article by LiquorWise - supporting responsible alcohol use. Don't drink & Drive!.
Thursday, January 12. 2012
Liquor store - Liquor store robbers drank from the same liquor store which they attempted to rob when they could not escape, despite trying to do so after four hours. The robbers (3) held up the staff and members of the public with a large handgun and even tried to shoot an employee’s dog, but luckily missed. They demanded money from the till.
Two hostages escaped and a third was freed, subsequent to which the robbers gave themselves up.
The robbers luck ran out when members of the public stopped police officers passing by and the liquor store was soon surrounded by police. Negotiations ensued, with the mother of one robber and a girlfriend of other trying to assist. At that stage the robbers decided to share a bottle of Johnny Walker Whiskey, before giving themselves up.
Monday, December 12. 2011
Restaurants and guesthouses were the biggest beneficiaries of the COP17 conference in Durban during the past twee weeks. The accommodation industry expected to benefit by the tune of R500m, but the acting head of Durban’s strategic projects unit, Sue Bannister, said that it was closer to R1billion.
Liquor sales at both restaurants, hotels (including guesthouses, B&B’s, lodges), pubs and bars were reported to be excellent. Restaurants (including coffee shops) provided 495000 meals, while accommodation was fully booked during the 14-day conference with approximately 160000 bed-nights.
(Article by Times Live, edited by LiquorWise)
Liquor Store – George Park Liquor Store of the Strand (Western Cape) as announced that it delivers all liquor products free of charge in the Helderberg area. It boasts that its beer prices are the best, hard liquor very competitive and promises a great wine list. Ice is free if a minimum order is place. They will deliver for Xmas parties and functions.
(Article by LiquorWise)
Sunday, December 11. 2011
LiquorWise noted that not all people are enthusiastic about liquor stores! The majority of Arabs are Muslims and form part of one of the cultures in Iraq. Many Muslim Arabs who are conservative in their religious beliefs do not drink alcohol,. Follow this link to view rioters burn and destroy liquor stores in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region
(Video by Travis Brecher - Article edited by Liquorwise)
Saturday, December 3. 2011
In South Africa, as in many other parts of the world, Sunday liquor sales are always a much disputed talking point. When the Free State Liquor Act was launched last year, it catered for Sunday trading by liquor stores. Just as Free Staters were getting use to this, the regulations were amended and Sunday trading is no longer allowed!
It may be of interest to South African consumers and liquor store owners to read about the perception of the public and traders in Grand Rapids, a county in the US state of Michigan. We at LiquorWise were surprised how much the reaction of the folks in Grand Rapids concurred with the feedback we received last year from the Free State public and liquor store owners.
Dudley Larson, a liquor store owner in Grand Rapids, said that he didn’t have much choice but to open Sunday mornings. "I’d rather be closed, but everyone else is doing it, so you have to do it and I would be losing money otherwise," said Larson, owner of Dudley’s Party Store. “The sales have been ok”.
Michigan Liquor Control Commission statistics show Larson is in good company with his decision to sell alcohol on Sunday mornings. The State has allowed Sunday sales before noon since December 2011 in terms of an annual $160 permit. They could previously only sell on Sundays after 12h00. 5,974 businesses now have Sunday morning sales permits.
Data from the Michigan Liquor Control Commission shows that across the state,
In Kent County, 281 places have Sunday morning permits, compared to 575 with Sunday afternoon permits. In Ottawa County, 88 businesses are permitted to sell on Sunday morning, while 178 have the afternoon permits. Statewide, the Sunday morning permits have generated $950,000 for the state.
"It’s been a success," said Justin Hermiz, owner of Fulton Party Store at 734 Fulton St., near National Avenue. "We open at 10 a.m. instead of noon." Hermiz said the sales offset the $160 fee and employee costs. "After a couple of Sundays, you have your money back," he said. "You’re going to profit. There’s no way you can’t."
But for Larry Lawrence, owner of B & B Liquor Store on 28th Street SE near Breton Road, the potential profits are not worth it. He would rather stick with tradition and give his employees a break on Sunday morning. "I would never ask any of my employees to work it," he said. He says people already have lots of opportunity to buy alcohol.
"Do you have to be selling booze 24 hours a day?," he asked. "It just doesn’t seem necessary. They have Saturday night up until 2 a.m." Lawrence said that he considers the $160 permit fee a money grab for the state, particularly since liquor stores already pay a separate fee for selling Sunday afternoons. "It seems to me if you pay one license for Sunday, that should be enough," he said.
Paul DeBartolo, owner of Bottlenecks, said some people still don’t know that stores are allowed to sell alcohol on Sunday mornings. A couple of customers who came into his store last Sunday were surprised to hear about the change. Bottlenecks opens at 9 a.m. on Sunday mornings, he said, mostly because it offers convenience to those who want it. The law allows sales as early as 7 a.m.
"I can’t say it’s been a huge increase in sales," he said. "But it’s good for the people who want to buy alcohol."
(Article in GRPress, edited by LiquorWise)
This is something uncommon to South African citizens, although liquor stores are allowed to deliver liquor during their normal business hours. Apart from a few liquor stores offering this service, liquor stores don't offer this service as a rule.
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is now shipping specialty wines and liquors directly to customers.
In the past, orders from the board's online store were shipped to state liquor stores to be picked up. This home-delivery service has been in operation since 21 November 2011.
The service will be evaluated by the board after Valentine's Day to decide if it will continue. About 2000 to 3000 items not generally available in state stores are sold through its website in this way.
(Article from Erie Times-News, edited by LiquorWise)
Saturday, November 12. 2011
In line with its aggressive African expansion plans, retailer Pick n Pay (PIK) on Friday announced the opening of its second Mauritian store at Cascavelle in Mauritius.
The company opened its first Mauritian store in Bagatelle's Mall of Mauritius at the end of September and said one more store opening in the country was on the cards for 2012.
“We are set to continue along this expansion path in a planned and deliberate way,” Pick n Pay's head of group enterprises, Dallas Langman said.
Pick n Pay's expansion into Africa has been made easier with the establishment of a centralised distribution system.
The company was the last of the country's big grocers to roll out centralised distribution when it opened an expanded warehouse in Longmeadow in July.
Pick n Pay's strategy into Africa has mainly been through partnering with locals and the franchise route where local experts own the franchise in their own communities.
However, there are instances such as with stores in Zambia, where the company will develop corporate-owned stores.
The Mauritian stores will be run by franchisees who are familiar with the Mauritian market, providing Pick n Pay with further significant insight into this market, it said.
Mauritius has, in three decades, transformed from a mono-crop sugar dominated economy, to a services-orientated one, with a growth rate of 3% per annum.
According to the World Economic Forum's latest Global Competitiveness report the country was one of two sub-Saharan African economies in the top half of the Global Competiveness Index rankings.
Located off the southeast coast of the African continent, Mauritius is ranked 54th on the index this year, up one place since 2010, and is the second-highest ranked country in the region after SA.
“The country benefits from strong and transparent public institutions, with clear property rights, strong judicial independence, and an efficient government,” the report noted.
Pick n Pay's expansion into Mauritius follows its first store opening in Mozambique in June and its second store opening in Zambia in March.
“We have received official notification from the Indigenisation Board of Zimbabwe that the purchase of a further 24% of the Zimbabwean operation TM Supermarkets, has been granted,” Langman said.
He added that the company had expressed a strong interest in the new Mall of Zimbabwe and that its investment would be via TM Supermarkets.
“It will be a Pick n Pay-branded store but our investment is still via TM Supermarkets,” Langman noted.
Earlier this month, Pick n Pay reported that headline earnings per share had plummeted to 54.7 cents for the six months to end-August, from 90.17 cents in 2010, on the back of start-up costs for its Smart Shopper loyalty programme and investment in its centralised distribution system - initiatives taken up by the group as part of its turnaround strategy in the face of increased competition.
Over the next six months, Pick n Pay aims to open five more stores in Africa - among SA's big retailers, the Cape Town-based company has the smallest portfolio outside SA, while rival Shoprite (SHP) has the largest. - I-Net Bridge
(Article on I-Net Bridge, Edited by LiquorWise)
Wednesday, October 26. 2011
A Morton liquor store sold a Little Lotto Illinois Lottery ticket worth $175,000 Saturday, making it the second store in Tazewell County to sell a six-figure winner this week.
Another winning Little Lotto ticket, worth $300,000, was sold on Oct. 16 in Deer Creek. That winner, a Washington man who bought the ticket at Casey's General Store, 312 E. First Ave., will be identified and presented with an oversized check at the store Wednesday.
The Morton winner, who has yet to come forward, purchased a ticket with the winning numbers - 5, 18, 21, 23 and 35 - at The Liquor Station, 201 N. Main St. The store will receive a $1,750 bonus, 1 percent of the jackpot amount, for selling a winning ticket.
(Article by Journal Star – edited by Liquorwise)
Tuesday, October 25. 2011
A draft of a study, which may be of interest to South African government and provincial governments, was commissioned to find the best way for the Pennsylvania government to get out of the liquor store business. Pennsylvania only has state controlled liquor stores and wants to privatise liquor stores.
The report suggests, for example, that a proposal to auction wholesale and retail liquor sales licenses could get the state its biggest bang for the buck, with an up-front payoff of $1.3 billion to $1.9 billion.
But that's not the government's preferred option. The draft report tilts instead toward two models that provide for more retailers than the 1,250 proposed in the interest of increasing customer convenience and competition.
Here are other highlights of the draft:
• An auction of 10 to 30 wholesale licenses and 1,500 retail liquor licenses divvied up county-by-county across the state could generate between $1.1 billion and $1.6 billion in up-front cash.
• The other preferred option — with as many as 3,500 retail licenses going to any qualified retailers for a fixed fee — would raise about $475 million to $600 million up front but maximize consumers’ shopping choices.
• Assuming $1.5 billion in up-front revenue, the state could devise a 10-year spending plan that — depending on investment approaches — could yield from $186 million to $230 million annually.
• New liquor taxes required to keep annual revenue even with the take from the state-run system will drive up prices on some products. But the study’s authors also note enhanced competition should keep prices down in the state’s most heavily populated areas and might even lead to net price cuts on most popular items.
• Approximately 3,200 Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board employees would lose their state jobs.
The final version of the Public Financial Management report will likely contain revised numbers or proposals. Corbett, who philosophically supports getting state government out of the liquor business, has said he will present his own thoughts on the privatization issue.
(Article by Charles Thompson, Patriot News - edited by LiquorWise)
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