The Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB) successfully auctioned the rights to apply for a spirits retail liquor license at the 167 state-run liquor stores statewide.

Online bidding ended in a flurry of bidding on its final day on April 20, 2012, and the sum of individual bids totaled $30.75 million, with rights awarded to 121 individual successful bidders.

“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 in a press release.


Initiative 1183 directed the WSLCB to auction the state store properties at their current location.

Winning 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.

The winning 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.

In Ballard, the rights to apply for a liquor license at the neighborhood's two liquor store locations were auctioned off for a combined sum of $278,651.

The rights for the Crown Hill location, at 7740 15th Avenue N.W., were sold to Kifle Mandefro of Lynnwood for a modest sum of $70,150.

The right to apply for a liquor license at the N.W. Market Street location was more desirable, and was auctioned off for a final amount of $208,501 to Biniam Habte of Bothell.