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Utah alcohol board votes to shut down 1 liquor store and cut hours at others

UTAH — The Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control will shut down a $3 million a year store and cut hours at other Utah locations due to the economic downturn.

Utah liquor stores that have been open for 12 hours Monday through Friday will open one hour later, at 11 a.m., effective July 1. And effective Oct. 1, the store at 1457 S. Main will be closed.

"This does not make business economic sense. It's not logical," DABC Commissioner Jeff Wright said, prefacing the motion. "But we are forced to do this. … Legislation requires us. So I make this motion with regret and trepidation in the hope that a logical solution can be reached through conversation and dialogue."

DABC has been ordered to cut $653,000 from the budget year that begins July 1.

The store Utah is shutting down has eight employees: three who are full time and five who are part time. The three full-time employees will be moved to other stores, while the five part-time employees will have to start looking for employment elsewhere.

"One of (the employees) is on unemployment, a couple are retired, one's a substitute schoolteacher," Main Street store manager Chuck Waagen said. "They need the job."

The motion was a last-minute option that Wright proposed in the meeting on Tuesday. The original plan was to reduce the operating hours of 12-hour stores by two hours. That would have meant a loss of around $2 million of Utah state revenue. Ten percent of that money goes to the school lunch transfer.

"We are not making a wise business choice," Commissioner Bobbie B. Coray said. "I think we're going to lose money with this choice."

For every $1 cut from the budget, the state will lose $5, according to department officials.

In addition to the effects on the Utah economy, the cuts may also be detrimental to the community.

"To lose a business like that, we may see a turn in that neighborhood," South Salt Lake Police Chief Chris Snyder said. "(The liquor store) is part of the solution for me when it comes to fighting crime."

Once stores start closing down in a community, the crime rate rises, he said.

"Having active neighborhoods that are heavily trafficked is important for a police department," Snyder said. "It draws people to that area, it draws businesses to that area and overall it has an impact on the crime rate."

The employees at the Main Street location have been left with a glimmer of hope.

"Hopefully the legislators and commissioners may come up with a solution that they may not close us at all," Waagen said. "There's got to be a practical solution, I think. We'll be hopeful. We've got three months now, and we'll see what happens in three months."