As independent liquor-store operators throughout the country lose market share to warehouse clubs like Costco and Sam’s Club, Colorado liquor store owners have been protected by relatively strict state laws.
Colorado limits all liquor-store owners to a single license, blunting the impact of the largest chains. Nonetheless, the new stores that are opening are often massive.
One of the biggest to come onto the scene is Daveco Liquors, which opened at the Larkridge shopping center in Thornton in November. The store totals more than 100,000 square feet, including a 51,000-square-foot sales floor and another 51,000 square feet of basement storage. It’s billed by its owners as the largest in the world, though the claim can’t be verified.
A 26,000-square-foot Total Beverage store has also opened in a former PetSmart store near West 92nd Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard in Westminster. While the metro area boasts multiple stores under the Total Beverage brand, each is independently owned.
Additionally, some warehouse clubs that operate multiple liquor stores lease those spaces to independent operators.
Daveco is owned by Henry Sawaged. His brother owns Davidsons Liquor Inc. in Doug las County, but Sawaged is quick to point out that both stores operate independently and that his store is twice the size of Davidson’s. He has no doubt that his store’s size has had an impact on the market.
“I think we took the business to the second stage,” he said. “Before, there were only one or two major players in the market.”
Business has been strong in the first few months, and Sawaged said customers are coming from throughout the metro area and from as far away as Cheyenne.
Owners and employees of some smaller liquor stores say they took a slight hit when Daveco opened its doors and advertised heavy discounts and promotions. Generally, they say, business has returned.
“If somebody is going to go out and buy $400 dollars worth of alcohol, they’re going to go to one of those places anyway,” said Larry Aldrich, who works at the Booze Barn in Thornton. “We cater to the blue-collar workers that are going to come in and pick up a six-pack or a single bottle.”
Jim Shpall, president of longtime industry stalwart Applejack Wine & Spirits in Wheat Ridge, said he has noticed the “bigger is better” mentality among some liquor stores.
“I’m of the view that you can be way too big,” he said, noting that it can be hard to find service in a big-box store like Home Depot.
While his own store is relatively large, Shpall said he has never calculated the square footage and strives to maintain a small-store charm. Shpall’s father-in-law, Alan Freis, bought the store in 1980.
Competition has long-defined the state’s retail liquor industry, Shpall said, keeping prices down and selection wider.
“In states where the chains like Costco and Wal-Mart sell liquor, they’re primarily focused on the Kendall Jackson’s and other mass-market wines,” he said. “I have to make sure our prices are rock bottom or somebody is going to undercut us. The consumer benefits from having a core of independents.”
But while state regulations limiting chain-store growth have fostered an aggressive level of competition, they also have kept popular chains like Trader Joe’s out of the state, said real estate broker David Larson of Legend Retail Group.
“I’m not saying they’ll never come here, but it puts Denver lower on the priority list,” he said.
Staff writer Kristi Arellano can be reached at 303-954-1902 or karellano@denverpost.com.
