Glassboro hopes to net half-million for liquor license, distribution business opportunity
GLASSBORO — The borough hopes to pocket at least $500,000 with the pending sale of a new liquor distribution license.
Glassboro currently has two active distribution licenses. The one now scheduled for auction in late April would be its third and the first new one available in many years, according to Borough Clerk Karen Cosgrove.
“I can tell you that we definitely have had some interest in the license,” Cosgrove said. “I would hope that we’ll do well when the … the bid packages are received, actually.”
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New Jersey has a multitude of liquor license types, most varying on whether goods can be consumed on site or must be "to go" or in some combination. The sales prices range widely from community to community.
In the "distribution" category — think a Canal's-type, warehouse-ish operation — some price points for available licenses range from $110,000 to $315,000 for two distribution licenses in Kearney, Hudson County to $650,000 for one in Chatham Borough, Morris County to $1.6 million in Irvington, Essex County.
In Burlington County, Chesterfield Township in early 2022 authorized an auction of a distribution licenses with a minimum bid of $200,000 and eventually sold it for $205,000. The township also has out for bid since late 2022 another distribution license, this with a minimum bid of $350,000.
The Borough Council authorized taking bids in late January. It advertised the two-step license auction procedure it would use on March 10.
The first deadline is April 18, by which time prospective bidders must submit information required to be pre-qualified to make an offer. The bidders who do qualify will be announced on April 21.
The actual bids the borough will sift are due by April 25 from the pre-qualified list.
Cosgrove said the council determined the minimum bid based on what was paid for the last license the borough sold. That license was a consumption license though, rather than a distribution license.
Officials say the new license is possible because of population growth. The municipal code authorizes one distribution license per 7,500 residents, with differing standards for other types of licenses.
The current distribution license holders are Canal’s Glassboro and Bootlegger’s, according to the borough.
Joe Smith is a N.E. Philly native transplanted to South Jersey more than 30 years ago, keeping an eye now on government in South Jersey. He is a former editor and current senior staff writer for The Daily Journal in Vineland, Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, and the Burlington County Times.
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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Half-million-dollar bid asked for boro liquor license, April auction
