By Nancy Huddleston, Editor

What do you get when you mix beer, wine and liquor?

For the city of Savage, it’s a winning combination in terms of municipal liquor sales for 2007.

Sales were up in 2007 by 4.8 percent to $6.123 million in 2007 compared to $5.841 million in 2006. As well, income for 2007 was up 15.39 percent to $548,839 compared to $475,627 in 2006.

But what does all this mean to the average resident?

Success at the city’s two municipal liquor stores means that $240,000 in bonds for the Savage Library are being paid off each year and another $175,000 is deposited annually into the general fund, according to Liquor Operations Director Pete Matthies.

And next year, liquor store proceeds will have a new commitment – to help pay a portion of the new McColl Pond Environmental Learning Center (ELC).

Another aspect of the whole deal – the liquor stores pay their own way in terms of expenses. The city runs the operation like a business, meaning that Marketplace Liquor and Dan Patch Liquor need to make money in order to stay in business.

So it’s natural for Matthies to see the success of the city’s liquor operations as a win-win.

Marketplace is still the work horse of the operation, pulling in $4.484 million in sales, up 4.8 percent from the 2006 total of $4.278 million. In 2007, Dan Patch had $1.639 million in sales, up 4.9 percent from the $1.562 million recorded in 2006.

Matthies says the two stores attract different customers.

At Marketplace, there’s a wine club and more traffic due to the location on County Road 42 and the close proximity to other high-traffic retailers like Walgreens and Rainbow.

The customers at Dan Patch are predominantly older and shop there because it’s more of a “corner store” atmosphere, Matthies said, noting even his wife shops there because it’s a “cute little store.”

Even though there’s a marked difference in sales at the two stores, Matthies said, “we’re happy with where Dan Patch is in sales, because it really has a limited area to draw.” He also notes the old store was bringing in $750,000 annually in sales before it was closed to make way for the new one, so the increase in sales at the new store is a good thing.

Another bright spot for Matthies in the statistics is the level of business. Five years ago, the city had three liquor stores and closed the Sunset location in a strip mall at the corner of County Road 42 and Glendale Road to cut back on expenses.

“We have more business now with two stores than we had five years ago with three,” Matthies observed, “So we got back the business without the overhead.”

Matthies said he is also happy to report the increase in sales is coming at a time when there’s a downturn in new housing starts in the city. He attributes the continuation of strong sales to a stronger presence on the Internet.

Last year the city launched a Web site for the liquor operations, which allows it to highlight new items and specials. Customers can also sign up for e-mail alerts, which are used to promote sales, specials and offer coupons.

Another thing that keeps the liquor operations in the public’s eye is its community presence. Annually, the liquor stores sponsor three wine tastings; one each in the spring, summer and fall. The benefit for the Make a Wish Foundation is the granddaddy of the three, followed by the breast cancer benefit for the Susan G. Komen Foundation with the Sisterhood of Savage, and most recently, the Dan Patch Days wine tasting.

“People get to know us through these benefits, which is good for the charity and good for us, too,” Matthies pointed out.

Statewide comparison

Annually, the Office of the State Auditor reviews liquor sales for the entire state. The latest report, from 2006, shows that 220 Minnesota cities operated 248 municipal liquor stores, with 127 cities operating both on-sale and off-sale liquor establishments and 93 cities restricting their municipally-owned establishments to off-sale liquor stores.

Of all of those, Savage ranked eighth in gross sales in 2006, with Lakeville coming in at the top of the list, followed by Edina, Richfield, Eden Prairie, Apple Valley, Columbia Heights and Elk River.

 Nancy Huddleston can be reached at editor@savagepacer.com.