I live in the Village and I'm not real thrilled, because Homeland and the liquor store next door to it are in Oklahoma City. Hurts tax collections for the Village. I'm gonna speculate with zero knowledge that Uptown got some incentives to build in the Village, and I wish that maximizing and protecting tax revenue streams would have been included in the deal.
I recall reading the article in the Oklahoman regarding the new owner interview. I have spent enough time in the evangelical church to pick up signs that their objection to alcohol sales in their stores is religious. First off, you say you partake yourself on occasion (make it vague and unverifiable about when and where), then mention that you don't sell because of helping smaller business neighbors who do (selfless and virtuous), then finish with statements about the pain of addiction and lives destroyed by alcoholism (making that part longer than the rest of the discussion combined).
I live in the Village and I'm not real thrilled, because Homeland and the liquor store next door to it are in Oklahoma City. Hurts tax collections for the Village. I'm gonna speculate with zero knowledge that Uptown got some incentives to build in the Village, and I wish that maximizing and protecting tax revenue streams would have been included in the deal.
I recall reading the article in the Oklahoman regarding the new owner interview. I have spent enough time in the evangelical church to pick up signs that their objection to alcohol sales in their stores is religious. First off, you say you partake yourself on occasion (make it vague and unverifiable about when and where), then mention that you don't sell because of helping smaller business neighbors who do (selfless and virtuous), then finish with statements about the pain of addiction and lives destroyed by alcoholism (making that part longer than the rest of the discussion combined).
^
I also strongly suspect that despite the denial, the elimination of alcohol has everything to do with personal views.
I forgot another portion of the interview that I was surprised by, and hope we have an expert on here who can clarify:
I recall Mr. Pruett said that alcohol sales are a low-margin business and legal red tape makes it not really worth the effort. I wonder if this is true? I ask because I remember the big north sider rumor has always been that Aubrey McClendon had to promise Whole Foods that they did not have to pay any rent until higher percentage alcohol sales were legal in grocery stores. Reportedly due to the high profit margin on those products.
^
Those comments don't make sense, especially since Uptown generally has higher prices in exchange for a more upscale shopping experience. Their alcohol margins should be better than just about anywhere and somehow virtually every grocery store in the state sells it, and for good reason: it's profitable.
Someone posted these photos of Buy4Less on the OKCTalk Twitter feed:
Sometimes those low margin items are what gets people to the store in the first place.
also you have to look at the fact that most of these grocery stores carried a much better selection of local beer, and i assume local wine, than gas stations. So while their reasoning is to not hurt local businesses they are in fact hurting some local businesses.
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