The Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Liquor Control had announced in November that it was seeking to add 20 new liquor-agency stores statewide, including three in the greater Dayton area, and invited entrepreneurs and potential store owners to submit applications to be awarded those state liquor agencies.
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The state does not mandate a specific location for the new stores, but instead identifies points on a map in areas its research suggests are under-served, and invites potential applicants to pitch business plans for stores within a two-mile radius of that spot.
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In the Centerville area, that point on the map is at South Main Street (Ohio 48) and Marco Lane, near the Centerville Place Shopping Center and Kroger Marketplace in south Centerville.
In Piqua, the map point is on East Ash Street (Ohio 36). In West Chester, the point on the map is at Tylersville Road and Cox Road near the Voice of America Center east of I-75.
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A spokeswoman for the Ohio Division of Liquor Control told this news outlet on April 12, that four applications have been submitted for the Centerville-area liquor agency, three have been received for the Piqua liquor store, and eight applications have been submitted for the West Chester-area store.
The applications are evaluated and scored based on several criteria, and that process is still ongoing, the spokeswoman said. A decision on which —if any — of the applications will be selected will be made by the end of May, the liquor-control spokeswoman said. Last year, attempts to add a state liquor store in Fairborn fizzled when liquor-control officials determined none of applications met the standards.
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Applicants must have experience operating a retail business or equivalent experience, and must have sufficient financial resources to establish and manage a retail business, according to the division of liquor control’s web site.
Contracts will not be awarded to anyone in bankruptcy or receivership, or who is delinquent in their taxes, liquor-control officials say.
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Jim Canepa, superintendent of the Ohio Division of Liquor Control, told this news outlet last year that there had been “no thoughtful strategy” in recent years of how to grow the liquor business that the state essentially owns and operates.
“We will look for spaces to tap into revenue,” he said. Under Canepa’s leadership, the division of liquor control will attempt to demystify spirits and focus on the stories behind some of the craft spirits available — and being produced — in the state, much as Ohio craft breweries and wineries have done, the superintendent said.“We want to develop a new customer experience,” Canepa said, while also promoting responsible consumption.
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