JACKSON HOLE, WYO – A coveted liquor license is once again on the block and potentially on the move as owners of the Lift try to once more to sell their retail liquor license—this time to Pearl Street Market.
Retail liquor licenses are the magnum opus of spirit slinging. They are the least restrictive type of liquor license (compared to restaurant, bar & grill, resort, club, and microbrewery permits), allowing for the sale of alcoholic liquor and malt beverages to be sold for consumption on premise, off premise, or both.
They are a big deal. How big?
Though the fee to the town is only $1,500, these licenses have been known to change hands for six figures. Commercial real estate agents often get involved to negotiate the deals.
Based on a population formula, the town has just 20 of these to dole out. And once they are in private sector they never come back to the town. Owners of retail liquor licenses transfer them or sell them with town council approval.
In the case of Lift, which closed for good in October 2018, an attempt to sell the liquor license to the Jerrold Lundquist (who owned the land Lift was on) was denied by the council last fall. Mayor Pete Muldoon and others felt it would not be fair to other businesses waiting to get their hands on it to allow it to go to Lundquist who admitted he had no immediate plans to put it to use.
A subsequent attempt by Lift to sell the license to the new owners of the land Lift was on (who are developing high-end office space/condominiums there) also fell through.
That leaves the latest plan. A deal is in the works to sell the retail liquor license to Pearl Street Market. With it, PSM would be able to open a full-fledged liquor store on premises.
The council will decide on the matter likely at its regularly scheduled meeting February 19.
