Hunger for new revenue and booming cross-border trade at Greenville's Country Mile has state officials considering -- and grocery lobby hoping for -- big changes to state liquor sales policy.
The ceiling of The Country Mile market tells its story.
'You see that two by four and it ended at this wall, and then on that end there we added another 30 feet, and then 30 feet more going this way. And we could use more.'
That’s owner Joe Correia. He says the bulk of the store’s growth has come since 1992. That’s when the liquor commission made him an offer he would have been a fool to refuse.
“Joe Acorace was the commissioner and he wanted to move his Greenville store, which was downtown, onto my property. I wasn’t crazy about the rent and he says let’s do this, let’s try the agency store, there is something on the books.”
And 17 years later, neither Correia nor the commission is complaining. In 2008 alone, the state cleared about $600,000 on liquor sales at the county mile. By law Correia gets an 8 percent discount on every bottle of liquor he sells. The state makes about a 50 percent profit on every bottle it sells Correia. That may not seem a great deal. But factor in the beer, soda, cigarettes and lottery tickets the country mile also sells, and Correia says his average customer spends $45.00 a visit; roughly twice what a grocery store of comparable size might expect. Asked to explain, Joe Correia says it boils down to location, location, and well, you get the picture.
"I’m one mile from the Mass border. If you put this location 30 miles inland, it’s not going to do these kinds of numbers."
And he may have a point. The state’s other agency stores are in Colebrook and Errol. Neither does brisk trade. But rest assured, other state merchants do want in.
"There are 1400 licensees out there who already sell beer and wine. All of those should be able to sell spirits as well."
John Dumais is president of the New Hampshire’s Grocers Association. He says for typical grocery stores to make real money with agency licenses, they would need a 20 percent purchasing discount. Dumais says if that happened, the liquor commission could expect some big profits in return.
"Under our scenario, the state could generate somewhere between 17 and 22 million dollars in net revenue for the state."
Such numbers might prompt a look from lawmakers, particularly, given the state’s budget pressures. But Mark Bodi, the state’s top liquor official, says granting agency licenses to hundreds of retailers is easier said than done, and probably won’t happen anytime soon. Bodi agrees, however, that margins would need to change if the state were to add agency stores in any number, though not, he stresses, to the extent that grocers might want.
"An appropriate margin might be slightly more than 8 percent and certainly less than 20. But we want to assure than any expansion in the margins we allow is as low as possible so that we can maximize the state’s revenue opportunity."
Whatever does happen -- and there are several proposals before lawmakers to change how the liquor commission does business – the owners of The Country Mile says they don’t plan to change a thing. And given their loyal clientele, why would they?
"Well, I’m an assistant manager of the state liquor store in Brookline."
Judy Emmons is a Country Mile regular.
"This store is perfect, because the liquor stores have limited hours. You get a store like this their hours are a little better."
-So what are you buying?
"Oh, I buy cigarettes."
Expect Governor Lynch to touch on changes at the liquor commission, and possibly to the cigarette tax, when he presents his next two year state budget to lawmakers tomorrow.
