License fees will vary from $3,500 to $7,500 depending on population, [image-nocss] location and square footage.
Click hereto read the text of the bill.Currently, 54 Iowa c-stores sell spirits with premises restrictions. The Iowa ABD estimated that over the next two years, 200 additional c-stores will obtain liquor licenses. The new stores could generate up to $2.5 million annually in additional revenue for the state, it added.
Some local stores are looking into adding hard liquor; others will study the matter before deciding, according to a report by The WCF Courier.
"We obviously sell beer and already do offer wine in select stores, so this does offer the option," Bill Walljasper, CFO with Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey's General Stores Inc., which has 448 stores in Iowa, told the newspaper. "We're going to evaluate it and see how it may or may not be a step to take."
He added, "There are various factors to balance. There's a significant cost to get the license, and we have to see what our customers want, so you certainly want to evaluate whether to take that step."
Brad Jones, owner of the Pronto c-store in Evansdale, Iowa, said he definitely would look into the option. "I think it will be a good idea to bring in extra dollars and, besides, we're kind of pinched right now with the high price of gas," he told the paper. "Anything that would increase our sales would help a lot."
But Jones also said he would have to do a little research. "We're going to check into it and see what we have to do to get into that," he said. "I know the licenses are kind of pricey, but we'll look into it."
Owners and managers of some stores in the Cedar Valley said they weren't sure what they would do. "At this point, we haven't discussed it," Diane Hoey, property manager with New Hampton, Iowa-based MK Fueltime LLC, told the paper.
The legislation was supported by several lobbying organizations including the Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Stores of Iowa (PMCI), the Iowa Grocery Association and Kum & Go, said the report.
Opposed to the measure was Jim Lind, owner of Jim Lind Service, a Waterloo, Iowa, fuel and service station that sells beer. "That surprises me that he signed it," Lind, a former state senator, told the Courier. "It's not something I'm interested in doing. I think it's a wrong course, as witnessed by what's going on around our own town. With the proliferation of liquor stores, we've had increased problems."
Other amendments were added to HF 617 by Iowa lawmakers as the bill moved through the legislative committee process, said the ABD. The final version modifies the definition of high-alcohol content beer to prohibit the addition of caffeine and other stimulants, effectively banning high-proof alcoholic energy drinks in Iowa.
Previously, only one member of the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Commission was allowed to be a member of the alcohol industry. This bill also allows the governor to appoint up to two industry members to the five-person commission.
The revised legislation also authorizes alternating proprietorship for native wineries.
The bill passed the House with no debate and passed in the Senate by a wide margin with bipartisan approval. The ban on high-proof alcoholic energy drinks is effective immediately; the other provisions will take effect on July 1, 2011.
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