In the auction of 167 state run liquor stores held last friday two local stores, one just opened last August at 4100 Alaska Way s.w. Store 143 sold to West Seattle developer Leon S. Capelouto for $225,445.00.

Capelouto also successfully bid on and won Store 99 at 1175 NE Gilman Blvd, Issaquah. bidding $251,000. Capelouto, who owns the building which also houses QFC, Petco and the Altamira Apartments, said he plans no major changes for the business. The "5 or 6 employees" have all been offered jobs when he officially takes over on June 2. There may be some minor signage changes but otherwise he "Just bought the right to continue doing business as a liquor store there," he said. Capelouto said he has plans to offer high quality customer service, the ability to order specialty products and plans to offer a wider selection than conventional stores, "There's plenty of business for everyone," he said.

The Issaquah store, "is a little bit different, since I'm not the landlord there," he said but his plans there too are to make very few changes. It's a very good store, great employees out there and most of them want to stay. I've talked to them."

The other, Store 104 in Westwood Town Center at 2511 Trenton Street s.w. was sold to Ankur M Patel for $300,100.00. 

The sum of individual bids totaled $30.75 million, with rights awarded to 121 individual successful bidders. Online bidding was continually delayed as bidders rushed in on the final day, April 20, 2012 with the time extended to accommodate the numbers.

In a press release from the Washington State Liquor Control Board they said:

“Business Enterprise Director Pat McLaughlin and his team executed this highly successful and historic feat in the midst of so many other pressing activities related to the transition to private liquor sales,” said WSLCB Chair Sharon Foster. “I am proud to be part of such a capable and professional organization.”

Initiative 1183 directed the WSLCB to auction the state store properties at their current location. However, the state leases the properties, not owns, creating a unique circumstance for the auction.

Successful bidders earned the exclusive right to apply for a liquor license at the current location within its current footprint. All state store properties are below the 10,000 square foot threshold established by the initiative. Successful bidders will need to secure a lease with the property landlord. If they are unable to secure a lease, they may re-sell their right or request an alternative location within a one-mile radius of the existing location.

The WSLCB ran two simultaneous auctions to achieve “maximum reasonable value,” as stated in the initiative. The first was for each individual store. The second was for all store locations available for a single bid, with the state taking the higher of the two. The sum of individual bids exceeded the $4.6 million all-store high bid by a nearly 7:1 ratio.

By the Numbers
• Total sum of individual bids $30.75 million
• High all-store bid $4.6 million (will not count)
• Registered bidders 551
• Total number of bids 14,627
• Single stores to individuals 93
• Multiple stores to individuals 28
• Lowest winning bid $49,600 for Store 186 in Spokane (Division street)
• Highest winning bid $750,100 for Store 122 in Tacoma (72nd and Pacific)
• Increase in bids on final day $23.7 million

Like many online auctions, if a bid was placed during the final five minutes of the auction, the end time would automatically extend for an additional five minutes. The official planned end of the auction was 4:00 p.m. PDT. However, heavy bidding activity extended the auction until 6:25 p.m. Friday evening.
The online auction was hosted by the Washington State Department of Enterprise Services. The agency has used the online auction site Public Service since 2009 to manage the sale of state goods.

“Thank you to Joyce Turner and her team at the Department of Enterprise Services,” said WSLCB Administrative Director Pat Kohler, “They partnered with us from the beginning to ensure the auction was successful.”