Following a land quibble with Dartmouth, the popular state liquor store at the Centerra Marketplace in Lebanon will most likely be moving in July, a spokesman for the New Hampshire State Liquor Commission said.
The move is not a matter of poor business, but rather the result of a real estate issue between the state and the College, which owns the property, New Hampshire Liquor Commission Chairman Anthony Maiola said.
"We've been there for four years and sales have been good," Maiola said. "The trouble is, however, what we're paying and what they are asking for are two different things."
New Hampshire is one of 18 states in which the state government controls the sale and distribution of all or some alcoholic beverages. Another state law stipulates that all state liquor stores pay $6 per square foot in rent.
"The fixed amount that the state can pay is substantially less than we can get for the space," said Paul Olsen, the director of real estate for the Dartmouth Real Estate Group.
Only three and a half miles from campus, State Liquor Store No. 11 in the Centerra Marketplace is the closest for Dartmouth students. The Centerra Marketplace, located off Highway 120, also contains a 40,000-square-foot Hanover Consumer Coop grocery store, several retail tenants and a freestanding restaurant.
Peter Engle, the liquor commission's director of store operations, said the liquor store is currently "a tenant at will."
The store's lease formally expired in December, but the store will remain in its current location until June. Engle said it is still searching for a new location and hopes to find one by July.
"[It would be] great to be at the road in front of Dartmouth," Engle said.
However, Hanover is a dry city and, by law, could not house the new liquor store, Maiola said. The Valley News reported last week that, according to state officials, the new store is likely to be situated along I-89 near the state border.
Olsen speculated that the store will move to a venue where the landlord will charge the store less than the market value, in the hopes that the liquor store will help support surrounding retail stores. Such was the case when the store first rented space in the Centerra Marketplace.
"We were charging less than market value when the store first came in, but it became clear that they didn't generate the value they originally expected," Olsen said.
The current store is popular among Dartmouth students as the go-to place to purchase liquor. Engle said that the Lebanon store had $3.3 million in retail sales last year and served over 100,000 customers, an impressive figure given that the store is one of the state's smallest.
Maiola said that the 76 state-operated liquor stores brought in over $140 million in revenue for the state last year.
The next closest state liquor store to the College is located about six miles from campus in West Lebanon.
Correction appended
For the record: An article on Wednesday ("Planned rent raise forces local liquor store move," Jan. 24) incorrectly stated that State Liquor Store No. 11 in The Centerra Marketplace was the closest state liquor store to Dartmouth. In fact, the Norwich Liquor Store, a Vermont-state liquor store, is closer to campus.
