Olympia — The Washington State Liquor Control Board has successfully re-auctioned the rights to apply for a spirits retail liquor license at 18 state-run liquor stores statewide, including one in Vancouver. The bids, to 14 individual bidders, totaled nearly $5.6 million, exceeding the original bids for those stores, the board said Friday.
The state agency ran the Thursday auction to resell locations whose original winners had failed to complete the purchase process. The initial auction that ended on April 20 for those stores had netted bids of approximately $4.6 million. A 6 percent bidder premium will be added to each successful bid, raising the total to approximately $5.9 million.
The Vancouver store at 3425 S.E. 192 Ave. No. 114 sold for $275,000 in the new auction. It had fetched $266,300 in the original auction.
Successful bidders now have an exclusive right to apply for a liquor license at the current location. Successful bidders will need to secure a lease with the property landlord. If that’s not possible, they may re-sell their right or request a new location within a one-mile radius of the existing location.
