I saw this today in the paper. I found it to be very interesting.
Quote:
Liquor licenses go on sale
Limited few will be issued to businesses that apply
Yvette Armendariz
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 13, 2006 12:00 AM
For the first time since 1988, Arizona retailers and aspiring bar owners will be able to apply to buy a limited number of new liquor licenses from the state.
Applications can be filled out starting today.
For the past 18 years, the only way to get a bar or liquor license had been to buy it from another business. The renewable and transferable certificates have become prized assets for nightclubs, pubs, grocery stores and pizza parlors. Prices on the secondary market have skyrocketed, making them an investment, much like housing, for their buyers.
Prices for the licenses have reached four and five times their value when last issued.
Today an aspiring bar owner would need to pony up $85,000 to $90,000 to buy an existing Series 6 license needed to operate a bar. They were selling for as low as $65,000 three years ago.
Thinking of selling packaged liquor? One of those Series 9 licenses recently fetched $240,000. Three years ago, prices tended to range between $110,000 to $135,000.
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So according to this article, AZ hasn't issued a NEW liquor license to any business since 1988. That's odd because since that time, the state has grown in population by about 50%. Of course, supermarkets, drug stores, convenience stores, bars, and restaraunts have been added to keep up with demand. Since the state hasn't issued any new ones, apparantly people just bought tons of licenses with no intention of ever building anything and just used them for investment puropses. That's fucked up big time.
The state is going to sell these at market value so that the value of current licenses without establishments do not go down. I think that's wrong too, it's just a cash grab to add money to the state funds. Screw the people sitting on licenses and waiting to gouge prospective business owners.
Am I missing something here?