SNOW HILL — The Worcester County Department of Liquor Control’s (DLC) Snow Hill liquor retail location will be phased out but the operation will remain in town and will be re-located to the DLC’s main headquarters on Snow Hill Road.
During a meeting this week, the Worcester County Commissioners also voted to oppose a private application for off-sale liquor in Snow Hill, stating that the area is too small to support a county dispensary and private operations.
The DLC’s retail store in Snow Hill is currently the only location where off-sale liquor is available within that community. However, the site has not been a lucrative one for Worcester and closure or relocation of the store has been expected for months. On Tuesday, DLC Executive Director Bobby Cowger announced that the operation will be moving and will merge with the department’s headquarters. It will be a big savings for the county in the long-run, reported Cowger.
“The current lease cost for our Snow Hill retail store off of US Route 113 is $1,600 per month or $19,200 annually. Our lease is currently expired and we are renting on a month-to-month basis,” wrote Cowger in a memo to the commission. “If we spread the cost of renovations over a three-year period, the relocation will not adversely affect cash flow and will result in significant annual cost savings after three years. We also hope to be able to achieve additional cost savings in the new location to reduce or eliminate the annual losses experienced at our Snow Hill retail location.”
The expected cost to relocate the Snow Hill DLC store will be $49,665, though Cowger hopes to trim that slightly over the course of the process. It’s a much smaller price tag than the county faced when bids for relocation were first considered last year.
It’s a win-win for the county and the residents, according to Cowger. Not only does it allow the county to save money, it keeps a DLC store in Snow Hill, which Cowger said was a huge point for the community.
Cowger noted that when there was a miscommunication earlier this summer and the county mistakenly announced that the Snow Hill store would be closing it generated some pushback from residents.
“I know that back when we were first talking about closing the store there was a pretty big outcry in Snow Hill,” Cowger said. “They want to maintain a county retail store. If we’re going to stay into it, [re-location] is probably the most feasible way to do it.”
He added that the move will cost the DLC some retail sales from highway traffic but that the town itself will still be conveniently serviced from the department’s headquarters.
The current DLC retail spot will remain open until the project is complete and the operation is ready to be moved.
The DLC and commission believe that Snow Hill residents will be happy to keep a county store but do not see the market in that area as large enough to support private business as well. The commissioners voted 6-1, with Commissioner Jim Bunting the only dissenting vote, to oppose an application recently submitted by Tarak Patel on behalf of his Town Market Basket store, located on East Market Street.
Patel is seeking an upgrade from his current Class A beer and wine license to a Class D beer, wine and liquor license that would include liquor off-sale privileges. This is Patel’s second attempt at an approval from the Board of License Commissioners (BLC) for the Class D license. His initial bid was rejected earlier this summer and met with some protest from neighbors.
While the commissioners have taken an official stance of opposition to Patel’s application, the final decision will lay with the BLC.