Should Hopkins Put a Stop to New Liquor Stores?

The announcement that Leaman’s Liquor owner Jim Mason plans to retire and close the business has some Hopkins liquor store owners wondering whether now is a good time for a moratorium on new liquor stores.

Hopkins has a total of seven licensed liquor stores—one store for every 2,500 people with Leaman’s or one store for every 2,900 people after Leaman’s closes.

“If that’s not enough competition, I don’t know what is,” said Roy Nguyen, owner of The Liquor Store and More.

(The calculations do not include Hopkins Tavern, which also has an off-sale license even though it is not a liquor store.)

By contrast:

• St Louis Park’s 15 liquor stores equate to one store for every 3,000 people, closer to the post-Leaman’s number if Hopkins didn’t grant another license.
• Golden Valley’s six liquor stores work out to one liquor store for every 3,400 people.
• Minnetonka’s 12 liquor stores is one liquor store for every 4,100 people.

Edina and Eden Prairie are even more extreme since they only have municipal liquor stores. Edina's three city-owned stores give the community one store for every 16,000 people. Eden Prairie's three municipal stores equate to one store for every 20,300 people

The number of Hopkins liquor stores is even more noticeable since they’re packed into a community with a much smaller area than its neighbors:

• Hopkins has a liquor store every .59 square miles.
• St. Louis Park has a liquor store every .72 square miles.
• Golden Valley has a liquor store every 1.76 square miles.
• Minnetonka has a liquor store every 2.35 square miles.
• Edina has a liquor store every 5.32 square miles.
• Eden Prairie has a liquor store every 11.7 square miles.
  

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many liquor stores within such a small square mile radius,” said Jinal Parekh, owner of Jim’s Liquor.

The competition is especially intense in downtown Hopkins, where The Liquor Store and More, Jim’s Liquor and Richards Liquor vie for customers within a few blocks of one another.

More liquor stores just across the Hopkins border attract local residents even though they’re licensed by another city. U.S. Liquor & Wine in Minnetonka sits just across Hopkins Crossroads from MGM Wine & Spirits in Hopkins. Knollwood Liquor Store is just across the border in St. Louis Park.

Nguyen and Parekh both said they’d like to see a moratorium on new liquor stores. Nguyen added that the city could also create a limit on new liquor stores that is tied to the number of people in Hopkins.

However, the two split over what exactly one fewer liquor store would mean for their business. Parekh said he doesn’t expect to see much change after Leaman’s closes because it’s in a different part of town.

But Nguyen said he thinks the remaining liquor stores would all benefit.

“It would increase our bottom line,” he said. “It’s a piece of the pie we don’t have to share. You have only so many people in this town.”